I own my condo in Corktown and I currently pay about 1400/year because it is in an NEZ district (read: property tax discount), but I'm not looking forward to when that expires.  

I am a Verifiable accredited investor/Cash buyer looking for distressed/discounted multi-family (2-4 primarily but will consider commercial 5 units +) properties for mid to long term buy & hold in & near Union County, NJ (Linden, Rahway, Elizabeth, Roselle Park, Roselle) Middlesex County (Woodbridge, Avenel, Carteret, Colonia.)Also I'm looking for a Manhattan studio/1 bed condo/condop/coop-investor friendly unit that permits immediate & unlimited sublets & that can cashflow.

Fire damaged homes can be a great way to pick up a property at a discounted price, however there are items that need consideration.

I discounted for the fact that it is adjacent to a road that is undergoing widening for the next year, rehab costs, holding costs, investor discount, and then I was stuck eating 7% on selling the thing, so I deducted that as well.

I hope too your are discounting income sufficiently and the blue sky as a PM is very "personality of the individual" oriented business.Do you have a RE Broker's license?

I worked a little SORT OF........I found a memorial day discount on a massage chair I had been wanting and I bought it!!

Unless you know the seller's motivation and know which button is the right one to push, it's hard to convince someone to sell you a property at a discounted price.

I didnt know they were available though ebay at discounted prices.

There are some wonderful intangibles that come with going off to get an education so don't completely discount it... not saying it's right for everyone but just something to think about.

The problem with those sites, like others mentioned is they use old comps and if you know your area you can most likely discount some that are too far away just by looking at the street name.In a market that is rapidly changing you simply cannot afford to rely on outdated data, you need to know what the home is worth TODAY, not last year.Jeff