If you buy a place that does not cash flow then the snowball effect really runs in reverse.

It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, this has on the real estate slowdown. 8)

Some of my buyers still want to walk through or have their contractor walk through, and some will just do a drive by depending on the circumstances.Bottom line, yes, your buyer needs to know what's wrong with a property, but a professional property inspection is not always a feasible or effective way to achieve that goal.

So in light of the Fed's decision on Tuesday, I am curious to how this effects the average home buyer.

My guess (and my realtor sort of confirmed this) is that the market is whacked out due to the after effects of Hurricane Katrina.

I found a vacant property with fire damage.

Whether you own the property outright or have a loan on it has no effect on your liability.

The building needs basically everything- the roof has fallen in and that has caused significant damage to everything, so we need to gut it and rebuild it.

No idea if this will damage the value (sales would not be as brand new property) or if you can restructure your share of the deal so you take title to specific units without a taxable event.

It will not cost all that much compared to the damage done if you get this wrong.You also might find that selling and taking the cash to invest in a different market provides better returns.