That is what I do.I have done well, and get solid returns investing in areas around Chicago that aren't in the south side.

Zack Helbling - 412-297-6510He is a solid and honest guy.

The only person(s) that could do that would be the Attorney Generals for the respective states that he may or may not be operating in.The repeated advice to contact a lawyer after the holidays is solid and should be the only thing you take away from your post.

My advice is stop wasting your time trying to out smart the legal requirements, it can't be done if the law applies to a transaction.

Or am I just wasting my time with this niche since these lists of vacant properties with code violations is all public information and higher level investors have already gotten their hands on these lists and marketed to the owners the minute they become available.

Not necessarily a scam, but likely a waste of time.

Depending on the Asset Manager, they might let you add a name after the contract has been accepted Account Closed Yes you can just not turn in the contract, however I would not recommend doing that on a regular basis if you are planning on doing a lot of business with HUD as I believe(No proof) that I do receive bids on some of their older inventory because I do have a track record of closing on these as a Broker/Investor @Wayne Brooks I agree with Wayne that as a Broker I do not waste much time with blind offers as most of them are just fishing and a waste of time.

After at least ten different incidents where the "zestimate" was off, the asking price had either been lowered at least a week or more earlier, simple things like square footage were different from the MLS listing, tax assessments were incorrect, and estimated rent was pretty different from real time evaluations by my RE agent, I have finally decided I may be wasting my time...Does anyone on BP actually use Zillow effectively?

Of course you will need the help of others, but you have to have a solid grasp of what facts give you an accurate value.

@Sonit Bhatt As you can see just from the responses you've gotten so far, there are plenty of markets around the country that produce solid returns.