However, if you know of land that could possibly be turned into a development or maybe a shopping mall or whatever, take some time to investigate it. 

Bad Credit Real Estate Investor - Bad Credit Real Estate EntrepreneurI've title this "bad credit real estate investor bad credit real estate entrepreneur"Let's talk about where you need good creditTo get a car loan, to get an FHA loan or conventional loan, even to get a good job with the US government, your credit report is important.There are two ways to improve your FICO score, get rid of negative marks, and to put new positives on.To get old bad marks off, I would study on the http://FTC.gov site the "Fair Credit Reporting Act", which basically says that you can contest any mark on your credit report.Ask them to investigate its accuracy, and from there, the creditor or reporter to the credit reporting agency that has the negative mark has a reasonable amount of time to do two things: one, check for its accuracy and to report its findings to the credit bureau, which are three companies.

George,I specialize in listing and selling apartments for my clients.What I posted was a down and dirty 10 second calculation.Typically costs average to 10% property management15% vacancy/loss turnover35% operating and expenses= 50%This doesn't include deferred CAPEX that the seller has put off to make their costs seem lower and profit seem higher.Buying acquisitions is a process through which you put a filter.When I was working with developers they would plot out about 10 locations on a map.I would pull the preliminary information and we would go visit the sites.From that step half of the properties would be crossed off for one reason or another.Eventually after multiple steps we would negotiate with 2 to 3 sites max.The developer would go with 1 site and maybe 2 if they could get both at great deals.The higher the dollar value on a deal the more scrutiny goes into it.Buying a quad versus a 200 unit apartment building has a totally different level of risk versus reward ratio.When buying a building you have to know in the immediate area how much vintage product you are competing against,versus relatively new product,versus new product slated for development where the plans and land is already bought and the developer is waiting to build to time the market.All of these factors among many others will affect the property you are contemplating purchasing.It doesn't make sense on the front end to do a 100 point checklist of due diligence when the seller might not even sell at a range where it would make sense.Do the down and dirty 10 second calculation and determine the sellers motivation and go from there.I know people who would spend hours trying to analyze a property only to find out from a quick phone call that the seller was unrealistic.Instead of wasting that time they could have found a motivated seller to conduct due diligence on with a deal that might happen.That's not to say the unmotivated seller will not be motivated at some point but you can't wait on that with your other plans.When they come back to you if all your capital isn't ties up you can look at it again.

John, we did check out Better Business Bureau everything looked fine, until I saw the 20/20 investigative report on BBB and their pay for play.

All self-contained units (kitchen, laundry, entrances)Yes it is hard to find properties to meet the 1% rule, but that is just a preliminary metric.

Like @Hadar Orkibi said, be sure it's a good deal and have some preliminary analysis to back it up. 

We are bringing someone in to investigate but we're curious if anyone has been through it.

It's essential to investigate what it would take and what repercussions (if any) there might be if unpermitted units are rented out.

Aloha,From your statements, it sounds like your investigation and planning prior to purchase were inadequate.

Also, HouseFlippingHQ.com is also a great website for potential, beginner and expert flippers I must say....I have a preliminary system that I partly created and partly copied (for lack of better word) from other investors for evaluating potential flip properties.