It appears that he'll do OK with that house whether he sells or rents it.That experience, along with my failure to identify anything else that makes more sense, has me strongly considering making a go of a RE business.

Perhaps they have not been able to identify a model that will work in that environment.

All you need is one or two buyers on your list to sell such a great spread, in fact, you don't have to sell it at all, it sells itself.True "cents on the dollar" are calculated by identifying the true, reasonable, and accurate after repair value, and deducting the true and accurate rehab costs to bring the subject property to that ARV.If the purchase price was plus rehab costs were actually 41% of the exit value, you would have 100 buyers waiting in line to bid up the price!

I suggest reading the threads you found, identifying the common concepts, and then trying those in your local area.

...Often you will find that the REO listing agent has been given an exclusive listing period, where the property is allowed to be kept off of the MLS while the listing agent identifies whether he can get a buyer for it.

Dont make the mistake of assuming that because theres no identifiable issues/problems that you can step in seamlessly without any effort.  

With a budget like yours the MLS is a cheap option, if you can become an expert at relationships and identifying good deals before the masses do.

Being able to identify and act quickly on that deal is where a wholesaler can earn money.

At first I thought it was some kind of quartz. But I'm really not sure. It's on the exterior and the fireplaces of a house I'm rehabbing. Thanks in advance.

https://picasaweb.google.com/101343586965863452914/Exterio...

Your job is to identify the market drivers which will help you forecast what an area will do before the area is able to react to those drivers being present.That is speculation investing.