I will not purchase in a bad area and I will not purchase where the courts are tenant friendly.

Mary, kados for posting, but everything past your first paragraph still appears as if you wrote it to your salutation of kados, fairly sure you didn't compose that, but it's a good reminder and borrowers should know if a lender is not being compliant as well. 

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They can make what appears to be a lot of money but they provide a valuable service.Sometimes the only ways to know what they are marking up are by having a lot of experience paying people to do various jobs, or by buying a book like J Scott's book on estimating rehab costs.  

Cash offers may appear very advantageous to a seller who needs or wants to sell quickly, or has fear of the buyer qualifying and being able to close 45-60 days down the road.  

They are easily influenced by the appearance of success and a desire to emulate others.  

But many cannot start off there - some can - most can't.I have read most of the posts that Bob has made here on the site and it appears that Bob has been the beneficiary of riding an incredible wave of appreciation on the west coast and in Hawaii. 

I had the opportunity to meet some at the last REIA meetup, that appear to be potential candidates for such a deal.Obviously, cash would not be something I could bring to the table.

I have driven to property to discover that the maintenance appears to be deferred, even though there is a "manager/maintenance" person there with reduced rents.

Also, NYC is *extremely* pro-tenant when it comes to housing court.