But even though it was less than 5 years ago, it was still 3.5 years ago and this is an early 20's couple, so a long time for them compared to a mid 30's or older.Considering it makes me nervous to show half of the people the house because I'm afraid they could just be scoping it out to come and steel my copper and a/c compressor later, what is your opinion.

How do they compare to top end mobile homes for example?

This neighborhood has maybe half a dozen comparable comps sitting anywhere from 175k - 230k sitting on the market now.

Although it may lack listings for some stations, display incorrect prices once in a while, and have a lackluster interface when compared to its competitors.

Assessed value has nothing to do with market value or what you should pay.You are buying this property based off the income approach as an investment but generally single family properties use the comparable sales approach for valuation,lending,and appraisal purposes.Local recent sold comps would be a better gauge for current market value than looking at any assessment value.Now you do want to look at assessed value for property taxes.Fighting the property taxes and getting them reduced will improve your yearly bottom line.Make sure the cash flow of the property they are reporting does not include exemptions that do not apply to you or they have been putting off capital costs and maintenance to show and INFLATED NOI.

At that point, a pure cash flow investment is going to look pretty crumby compared to something tied to an inflation index.Someone gives you a million dollars today.

Originally posted by Jon Holdman:Yes, you have your Roth get a non-recourse loan for the difference.A non-recourse loan will run you 40-50% down payment and 6.5-7% interest.I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but you may want to see what the tax hit is for liquidating the IRA and compare it to what you could get with a normal loan.

But you may not know how severe the movement is unless you have experience evaluating such things and have a basis to compare.

These "back end" points, as they are called, can be thought of as a reward or bonus for the broker selling a loan that makes the lender extra money, such as an interest rate slightly above market.Consider this example:Let's say the current going rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 4.5%, paying ZERO points.

I really enjoyed the process of my first deal and would like to do another one sooner...If I get a mortgage on the house, I'll probably be looking at 3000+ in closing costs, which is a lot compared to the amount invested.