* It seems the strategy you described makes the most sense when it's a great deal - but in the case where I'd be buying a positive cash flow situation near or at market value, then the advantages become less is that correct?  

Should I even bother to waste my time viewing the property?

They may qualify for your property on the site, but when you view the uploaded documents and see that he pays occasionally, and misses to or 3 months at a time, you can still select deny.

But, as you implied, a lot of lenders won't 'get it' so I'd prefer to assign it back to the seller so that from the lenders point of view, he/she just thinks it's a standard lease option and won't even know an assignment took place.So, I'm going to ask you to humor me by pretending you did assign it back to the seller AND that the buyer's option fee was released directly to the SELLER.

NO VIEWINGS of this property.

I also try and pursue the path you had described or at the least learn more about it.

It went pretty much the same as you described here. but I did buy a fixer-upper right before I quit, knowing that it'd be harder to get the bank to finance without a stable job.

(I may have figured this out as I am typing this, but I will still post this to get more views on the situation.)BTW the numbers are as follows:Duplex price:$235,000Money down: Poss 0%-5% (11,750) with conventional financing at around 3.8%Taxes: $939Ins: approx. $1500Top unit Rental: currently not rented but the potential is $750 for the areaBottom: Future rental is potentially $1000Anything else I missed please let me know thanks.

I have never encountered the negative situations you described.  

As a strong proponent of education in all its form, I'd like to avoid the slams on "formal education" is the devil point of view.