Basically it works like this:1) Find/prospect for motivated sellers willing to do a lease-option on their house2) Find/prospect for tenants looking for a "rent-to-own" opportunity3) Put the 2 together and collect the option fee (or 1/2 of it) as your profit!!

I have a potential deal on a two family house in a massachusetts cityi can buy the house for 125k cashonce i own it a listing on mls will go under agreement within 1 week for 175-225kwill there be a problem with the new buyer obtaining financing without seasoningi have been told in the past that this sort of eal would be difficult because of seasoningany suggestions

A closer look allows you:1) To confirm if the house is vacant2) You will start to see some houses with REO letters (bank owned), I avoid, lock boxes (means someone has an interest in the property already) avoid, Tenant eviction notice (has landlords contact info and they will be motivated), foreclosure notices etc.3) You will get a chance to network since you are out of the car- you will meet neighbors, where you can get the story on the house, contractors (mowers, handymen etc. which can give you info on the house as well as several others)4) You get to understand the condition of the property by seeing it up close.Driving your farm are in my opinion is highly recommended at least once a month (a lot happens in a neighborhood in a month), but is still one out of the 10 or more you should regularly doing to find these properties.Personally I feel there is a moral obligation if I am going to put a property under contract that I have the intention of closing it myself if I can not find a buyer.

He wants to replace his income and then continue to build an "empire" or sorts.

Also, what are the pitfalls to avoid when buying a short sale through the banks or a motivated seller?

Im talking about gas receipts or anything of that sort.

It seems with banks receiving so many billions that they might be less motivated to sell off their REOs.

Etc, etc.The CPA that I have worked with is backed up horribly and I would like to make some sort of progress.Thanks

If you study the HPI index then it was obvious that some sort of crash was going to happen soon.

"To be frank, since the TARP money came in, they are still selling off (properties at auction), but they kind of took a step back." . . .Real Estate Disposition LLC (REDC), which claims to be the nation's largest real estate auction company, held 300 ballroom auctions in 2008 and sold nearly 33,000 foreclosed homes for $3.4 billion -- a seven-fold increase in sales volume and nearly triple the proceeds the company generated in 2007.Company CEO Jeffrey Frieden said he expects to "smash that record" this year as banks and lenders continue to amass a huge inventory of foreclosed homes and are more motivated than ever to sell their inventory. . . .Some observers fear that if the massive amount of debt the government is taking on to stimulate a recovery, inflation -- and higher interest rates -- are inevitable consequences.