The agent.A short sale is pretty much this in a nutshell1) Buyer is in trouble and sends hardship to bank2) Agent does analysis and comes up with price (Which is of course lower than what is owed to bank)3) Bank says, go ahead and put it on the market4) Somebody looks at house and puts in offer5) Seller accepts any offer that comes in because they want out (regardless of how much the bank loses)6) Bank takes weeks/months to pay for their own evaluation, look at how long on the market, run an internal appraisal, look and do a cost benefit analysis on the loan and property7) Bank accepts/counters or denys the offer (provided they decide to do anything at all and not just foreclose on the original borrower and take the house themselves)I have it happen monthly....

I know, pretty lame. 

In regards to the home staging, is 1% if the sale price a pretty standard fee among companies?

Chat with @Scott Smith.Asset protection is a pretty small niche.

So on one hand, it's in my price range (finally) and one expert thinks it's a pretty decent deal.

Direct deposit is pretty common for tenants. 

Would be pretty simple to integrate with a LLC. 

I'm going to say some things that might tick off any appraisers here -- when a bank orders an appraisal, the job nowadays is pretty much lowballing the properties as much as they can get away with.

Or is it best to keep rehab pretty basic and cost-conscious? 

I'm pretty much subbing everything out but it will cost me another $500+ for a contractor to pull the permit.