I actually do KNOW how the fire started (the owner was smoking in an upstairs bedroom) so I BELIEVE the damage is fairly minimal (and contained) but someone I know said to me "oh, there's smoke damage, forget about it, the smoke permeates EVERYTHING and the only way to get rid of the smell is to gut the entire house (which is why I was worried).CK Hwang - that you for validated what I was thinking.  

I have been looking up properties but what's been holding me back to actually getting them under contract is the fact that I don't have the funds to pay for an attorney to review the contact make sure that it's valid and contains all it clauses.

For the most accurate information you need to obtain the data from the tax office itself.Tidbit:The top 25 counties in the country in terms of number of accounts will each contain over 2,000,000 listings (per county)

@Matt Rothwell Pardon the formatting as I just copied and pasted this but it's taken from Appendix C: The Rezoning Process contained within the Raleigh Zoning Handbook:APPENDIX CThe Rezoning ProcessWhom do I contact for rezoning information?

I also found that sometimes the look that you are going for (texture and no wall imperfections) is easier obtained by replacing all of the sheetrock in rooms that contain plaster which needs patching.

All homes contain mold - even the one that you live in.

From your description, it sounds like the property would be zoned mixed use with more then 50% containing a residential component (what some lenders would consider a Tier 1 property).

This might contain the public record for the subject and you might find recent sales in the project there.

His mortgage docs probably will contain a statement affirming that there are no deals or agreements outside of what is disclosed on the settlement statement.An outside deal could be considered loan fraud.

So when I search for "motivated sellers," I get 17 PAGES of results, 95% of which have NOTHING to do with motivated sellers but just happen to contain the words "motivated," and "seller" in the same thread.