To get past 4 in a conventional loan you might try local and regional banks and credit unions.

It’s very regional.

A few that I use are: MLS (different regions have different websites), Realtor.com, Redfin.com, and Trulia.com.

I'm sure it varies by region, but if you don't have access to information that others do, you are behind.

Just because it's a foreclosure DOES NOT mean it is a deal......A bank just like any other seller could be underpriced,overpriced,or at current market value.The listing broker could have turned in a crap BPO with a higher value hoping to beat out other agent to get the bank listing and then later hammer the bank down on price or hope to find a sucker.This happens more to local or regional bank foreclosures.It could also be the listing broker nailed the pre-list BPO but the bank got an inflated BPO from a third party agent getting paid 60 bucks to do a report and the bank trust them more so overprices it.

However, there are exceptions to those three if you find the right deal.What I would do if I were you is identify a couple markets you've heard good things about and start investigating them to see A) if they are good markets and b) if you can get deals that cash flow.That said, some of my favorite markets right now for cash flowing properties with good long-term fundamentals are Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Tulsa, OKC and most places in Texas (except Midland/Odessa region - I think that area will pop pretty soon).

I'm a fairly new investor: But I'll comment with general costs since I dont know how they change per region(I'm east coast). ballpark Costs: kitchen gut 20-30k (maybe less if you can manage all labor yourself), bathrooms 10k each, not confident enough about window costs and are variable (double pane, size etc), paint 2k or more, carpet 2-4k(size of house variable), labor???.

As a pest control branch manager that works in a region including FL and GA, it is pretty important to know more about the activity.

Nope, no proof of anything that I know of, but keepyou eye on the corporates cherry picking for bulk purchases for rentals.Some time ago I simply asked if a local regional bank would entertain the tough of me taking all foreclosures and they were rather egar to talk to me, I said well, I'll investigate further and let them know, but how to hedge against the trash around here would be a problem, so nothing on that front!

Costs for labor and materials vary from region to region, as do building codes.