To be honest, I didn't see this as an opportunity to fraud the system...but i can see how this situation can be viewed as so.

Since I am not currently living in Destin and have no ties to that area, I honestly don't have much of an idea what the RE market is doing down there.

Mike the plan was never to develop a large real estate business the plan is to own a couple nearby rentals with smallest mortgages and low expenses therefore yielding as much + cash flow as possible..Therefore my work pension + investments + real estate cash flow will provide a good retirement monthly income...To be honest I have a pretty kick back stress free R.N job that pays a little over 6 figures with full medical benefits for me and my family not to mention life time medical insurance for me and my spouse when I reach 25 years of service.

I have been very impressed with the level of education that the average member here seems to have, as well as the honest and respectful approach most use when contacting one another.

It honestly doesn't make sense to me.

I WONT lift a hammer until you either give me 1/2 upfront or what I have been doing lately is have the investor deposit ALL the funds into a bank account with both my name and the investors name on the account----He cant pull it with out my signature and visa-versa And honestly as far as letting the investor buy the materials -- HA -- All the average investor sees is the "pretty" side of things not the working end of things, and becides sometimes you have no idea "whats behind that wall" so 9 out of 10 times the investor dosent buy the right items, enough items or whats really needed to put the project together.I'll be more than happy to go to the Home Depot and get everything ordered, shopped, picked up and I may even deliver it ( usually have Home Depot deliver it...more money out of your pocket !)

To be honest, we were surprised but it never hurts to ask.

My wife and I began investing in Real Estate in 2011 as a retirement vehicle to supplement our 401K's, SS, and her pension (honestly we are not relying on SS).

To be honest, I don't understand why banks do short sales at all, at least the way the system works now.

But, I guess you need to clarify what "red flags" are to you.Someone could be killing it/raking it in with sterling credit, income, etc. for that all to change when the cards fall if they are behind a ponzi scheme or even an honest profession that fizzled out (e.g. an actor, model, lottery winner or sports star who blew threw their cash.)Thus, a good tenant in the past could be lousy in the future and vice versa.