Hey All,

Im looking to flip my first property in what I see as a niche market. My first question is: how do you know what holds value? Secondly, how do you estimate repairs precisely?

Alex

Many different ways to perform income verifications, I have a post in this next thread that identifies a few:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/69795-prospective-tenant-income-verification-questionBut for self-employed, 2 years of tax returns is pretty much the way to go; have them make copies for you, and have them complete a 4506T from the IRS so that you can confirm that the figures on the copy agree with what the IRS received.Since they have a mortgage, I look for two things there whenever I really want to be thorough.

Once you do a couple and you are able to identify methods to streamline your processes, only then will it seem easier.

Identify whether the landlord is building their portfolio, or if they want to sell.

I want to identify and work on building relationships with the top realtors.

It's just a matter of finding that right buyer.As an investor, however, I would caution my clients to first identify the areas they would like to operate in.

Sounds like they would have to be turn key which is may make it more difficult locally.Investing out of state may be an option, but you'll want to build some contacts so that you know you have a good property manager and have eyes and ears in the area that can identify properties, inspect them and help you with the due diligence.It is doable, but you have some homework to do.

I dont really identify with a political party by the way.I do believe we differ a bit from Greek or Eurozone countries bc we issue our own currency and have the reserve status.

Seems to me we have a pretty large population, easily identified, of people we know want to own a home, anddd who just suffered damage to their credit so will be unable to get a conventional loan.Any thoughts?

That being said, quality leads require identifying a distress or motivation (hopefully that other investors aren't targeting) and take me a lot of time to create.