When Signing the contract, the attorney asked me to write 4 checks.1. downpayment (5%)2. courier fee ($180)3. title fee ($850)4. survey ($500)5. his fee ($1500)This is actually my second house, but I don't recalled being asked for survey, title, and courier fee on the day of signing the contract.Could it be possible that this attorney trying to scam me?

Sit on the house vacant until summer gets here and the thing rents.

Sit down with local loan officers, banks, hard money lenders, Realtors, wholesalers, etc.... and you will quickly learn what loan products could work, and where to find deals.

@Larry Waters,Sit back and watch this thread explode. 

Not wanting to have to deal with it, he told me that since Ive shown an interest in real estate, that he would sign the deed over to me for free.Now this sounds like an amazing deal until I did a little research and found out that the taxes havent been paid in over 15 years and currently sit at around 27k with a tax lein attached as well.

@Charrand Jones your lender might recall the loan and property tax might get reassessed.

But alas TPTB in the East worked hard to shut this down, now it just sits idle--and waiting.)

BUT, if someone is going to take the time to sit down and help you make sure you are ready to actually take their advice and make some kind of effort.

They've been sitting on it for decades just collecting rent, mostly just collecting rent and investing in agriculture in the Domincan Republic. 

The ARV is sitting at about 85k top dollar and 80k at the minimum.