I've been "soft offered" $2.7m, which is over current valuations. 

Offer the seller a percent of the equity.Don't forget - disclosures - soft contingency - possession - legal assignment agreements

Brush it off.

I have a soft spot for New Jersey folks, one of our best investor clients is from there and I was born in Philly!

I just looked at a video that the owners of freedom soft has on youtube, its over an hour, but its the best ive seen so far, it does everthing you would need to do 

Soft cost are on the owner.

But like many people, I brushed off these risks, seduced by the attractive rate of return, and the assumption that if needed, it would be easy to sell and walk away within a reasonable time period.

Rehab can be more than purchase price.Max LTC/ARV: Lender will fund 100% of the purchase, repairs, and soft costs (lender fee, broker fee and title insurance) on the deal as long as the loan amount does not exceed 70-75% of the After Repair Value of the property, which will be determined by an appraisal.

That's one reason why LA has the Soft Story Mandate and some cities give incentives/rebates for retrofitting the connections between the floor joists and the concrete foundation.A simple retrofit could greatly increase the odds and help protect home owners / real-estate investors to preserve most of their investment versus having a greatly damaged structure that is too expensive to repair.

Not that any fraud is "good" and I'm painting with a broad brush here, but something about taking advantage of people who want to do a little bit better for themselves is somehow worse than preying on people's greed and vanity.