I would also be interested to know what segment of the market people target for flips... low end, blue-collar, middle class, upper middle class, high end?

If there were anything that was requested that significantly changed any terms, you can certainly object.Things are sometimes caught in audits, middle initial missing, co-borrower failed to sign a disclosure, signature not dated.

Is there a sag in the floors in the middle or is that door just off?

I get more than 6% sometimes on my deals.The brokers/agents going out of business has been touted for decades and it still hasn't happened.On flips when the market was hot any idiot could buy a property and make a ton of mistakes.With everything rising they could still most of the time eek out a profit.If they really knew what they were doing they could hit a grand slam.Today you have to do everything perfectly to preserve your margins.You have to go after properties that regular home buyers can't get financing on or are too ugly for them to want.Investors looking to buy paint and carpet only jobs to flip are looking for a needle in a haystack.I don't deal with wholesalers much when I list an REO or a commercial short sale.All they want to do is collect a fee.When I list it the bank and or the seller in pre-foreclosure knows I can easily find them an actual buyer who wants to own the property for awhile and does not need a wholesale price.The bank doesn't care about the wholesaler trying to be a middle man.The bank wants the highest net and so does the seller in pre-foreclosure usually to reduce their 1099-C phantom tax potential.My friends that flipped during the hot times form years ago are now doing development projects redoing downtown warehouse spaces for conversions using government grants etc. to offset costs.They aren't really playing in the residential flip market anymore because of higher risk now and lower profit margins.

Recently I have been seeing more foreclosures come on the market in my area in the middle upper/upper class hoods.

Now I am looking for another investment and was wondering about buying real estate, but I already have 5 properties and am in the middle of purchasing a 6th, mostly duplexes.

This is a decent middle class area.

I see an area as having about 5 sections: 'slums', lower middle working class, middle working, upper middle, upper class homes.I personally would stay out of the 'slum' areas.

(Example: in one area where I buy, trash is paid quarterly ahead of time, so when you buy in the middle of the quarter, you owe the trash fees that were paid ahed for your portion of the quarter.)And if it's REO, then you will pay for the U&O (Use and Occupancy inspection / Certiificate of Occupancy).And if it's REO, then closing might be a LOT longer than 5 minutes ...

I am an investor and in the middle of processing my 1st short sale.Home is worth $100,000 ($90,000 for a quick sale).