I've looked at the official public records in Travis and Bastrop counties, but can't find any NODs.

donflips -- Thanks for the motivation.Yeah, I found out from public records that this house is owned by Washington Mutual and yesterday their shares took a dive of 17% in addition to the annoucement that NY attorney general may bring charges against them for pressurizing the apprisial companies to inflate home prices.I just keep looking for any reduction in price and sadly the place where I live there ain't that many reo which sit for more than 4-5 months.

I assume there is no prohibition or restriction on partnering with others ( like friends and acquaintances) so long as they are not solicited publicly.

A group with vested interests pushes through a law.Even if we strip out the vested interest look at the CA foreclosure protection laws.

If the investor puts the down payment into the LLC at formation, you can buy the property directly with the LLC (bank will require personal guarantees) and that gives you *some* liability protection, voting control over daily operations, and saves a step over the above process.

The book helped me quit my old job at a public library and plunge whole-heartedly into real estate.

@cf2662It is actually just a bank trust, which is the only way the lender can protect itself.

The contract would be written so that you, the buyer, is protected - I'm working with a very good agent.

They may be able to do this without unanimous agreement, but at least I have some protection when that HO sues.

What do you do, if anything, to protect the deal from the owner defaulting on the loan.