One of my biggest fears, when starting to invest, is having an issue exactly as the one you described above (hidden problems that could kill a deal).

Those are upcoming areas that were kind of hidden gems that have seen good development but not much publicity. 

If you are good with the hammer and know some construction you can get the ugliest house and turn it into a very nice priced gem. 2) If you get a nice amount back from your sell in NJ you can put a minimum down payment on your primary residence (again be open minded so you can get a good deal), and then you can put a 20% down payment on a rental property that way your rental pays itself off and helps you pay part of your primary residence mortgage.

I tried to contact you on here but your info is hidden.

She charged 7%, and I haven't had any issues to date...also, no hidden fees in her contract

The profit is the profit, there's nothing else hidden in there or anything else to "repay".

They also bird-dog "off market" types of deals and value-add transactions that are dogs with hidden value in subdivision opportunities or re-zone situations.  

Make very sure there are no hidden costs; nickel & dime fees, etc. 

Dive into the podcasts if you haven't yet, lots of gems to learn from those.

Just use some common sense when you make the offer pointing out the deficiencies that you see and making room in the contract to run or re-neg if there are more hidden challenges.