Your "contractor" friend is completely off base.

I've mailed out over a thousand mailers, targeting primarily lower to mid income neighborhoods with high rates of foreclosure.

I'm fairly confident the current owner wouldn't want it to happen, because let's face it, he'd like to pocket the 12k and sell it for 50 again.Is there any kind of a play that will let me pay the remaining $38k and give my friend a few thousand so he's not completely out all his cash?

I completed all my coursework on my iPhone in 2 weeks while working full time.  

Some states may even bar you from doing so completely putting you at risk of criminal and civil liability.

This helped to find properties that were distressed and in need of some updating/ or complete rehabs.

I am a complete newbie to REI.

I recently got my Real Estate License and joined the association primarily to learn the market and find deals for myself.After starting investigations into two separate properties (the first two I looked at in fact) I am a little disturbed by what has occurred in these investigations.In the first, during the first conversation with the other agent I was told the owner was out of state, going through a divorce, an eviction, and that he needed to liquidate his assets.

I'm not completely sure what other state or city laws say about airbnb - it changes all the time.

If you have a difficult tenant that is not happy you can either tell them you will let them out of their lease after the work is completed or simply tell them to pound salt.