Gordon Ramsey has had a restaurant for sale and it was taken over by professional squatters (didn't know that was a job title :-)They planned to give away free food and open an art gallery there and are threatening to prosecute anyone entering without their permission.

Exploring real estate investment opportunities?

I had to leave to find better jobs but knowing what I know now I see opportunities. 

if you have another investment opportunity ahead then why not cut your losses, sell for what you can and move on to the next opportunity? 

I'm new to real estate investing and work a full-time job.

It's all about the cost of opportunity, if you don't pay and choose not to have MLS access you can possibly be costing yourself thousands of dollars in commission because you don't have the tools to do business.

As a former painter, there’s nothing worse than having to repaint after some idiot did a crappy job the last time it was painted.

Bookkeeping questions:I purchased a property with cash flow, according to my calculator, on day 1, but knew it was a value-add opportunity.

I think HH provides these new home buyers the opportunity to purchase a home with some financial flexibility being able to rent out portions for extra income. 

To the extent that a price reduction may make a "stale" listing appealing, worry not, you will get those notification emails on auto pilot anyways.Start doing the compare and contrast, maybe make a spreadsheet to evaluate opportunities, play a game of "spot the patterns."