There are 20 million houses Travis That have very little equity and these houses sometimes are on quiet streets and they need no work and they are paid up so they're not in trouble, not distressedYou make money by being a problem solver for the seller and making 3 per cent as an assignment fee.What a lot of people don't realize is sellers need help but they don't understand the costs to sell with an agentCosts to sell include commissions, closing costs, sellers concessions, spruce up costs like paint and landscaping, and vacant house while the house is being sold through the agentI describe this in a long post in the starting out section of the forms, so look for that long posters a few hours involved thereBottom line here is the spring is going be really tough for real estate agents in general, and if they would focus on helping sellers selling on terms verses for cash they would make a lot more moneyAn agents would make a lot more moneyAnd buyers would get their dream home in their chosen neighborhood in their perfect school district today, not making some landlord in some crappy apartment or rental house :)

I work with an agent/investor who is exactly like you describe.

Roni,As a self described Natick expert, I'd love to hear what happened or if they are still trying to sell.

I personally love properties like you just described @Rhonda Norman because there's nothing hidden.  

The situation you described, unfortunately, is not uncommon.

As a buyer, I view it as a bargaining chip! 

Assuming such property I described above have "as is" value of about $45,000 and there is about $2,000 back taxes.

@Ned Carey  generally speaking in our neck of the woods   you cannot go shopping for title insurance like you describe there are only about 6 or 7 companies that issue title and something like this that is cut and dry .. almost certainly will not fly with any of them.

As mentioned earlier in the thread definitely listen to the podcasts, great stuff there with a ton of different guests, views on REI, and investment strategies.Also the two books featured here on BiggerPockets by @J Scott are must reads if you're interested in rehabbing and or flipping houses. www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbookOne other thing you can learn a ton from are the free webinars that are usually every Thursday. www.biggerpockets.com/webinarBest of luck to you!

I am pretty certain you as a RE broker would consider that selling RE without a license if you don't consider that RE sales without a license maybe you could explain why it is not.Either way  this topic gets batted around BP about every month.. we all have our points of view and that's what makes it interesting.