I started off by going to a 3-day summit on real estate investment, and while I was not prepared to fork over my last year's salary, I learned a wealth of information and am very happy that I went.

Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,The Book on Estimating ReHab Costshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbookLocate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info.Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.You might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing.

Then proceeded to talk me into as she said, "doing this thing" and go home, start the process and she would prepare her short sale package.

Up until that point, then lender simply has a lien on the property - and the borrower may do whatever he deems fit with the property.Once the gavel goes down - assuming 91 days + 6 months in our example, then the Bank gets what is called a Trustee's Deed or Master Commissioner's Deed - which wipes out all debt - 2nds, 3rds, etc.At that point, you are dealing with an REO (Real Estate Owned) or sometimes called OREO (Other Real Estate Owned) - and when you call the bank, you want the Special Assets Dept. - not Loss Mitigation.

If you've never invested in Chicago before, you should know about some of the special rules for being a landlord there, like the Chicago RLTO (Residential Landlord-Tenant Ordinance).

Have an attorney prepare your purchase offer / contract and the deed of trust or mortgage, and make sure you're satisfied with the terms.

I talked to Quicken Loan, and they told me they will not finance a fixer up, handman special, rehab, or a flip; what's up with that?

My understanding is they're attorneys that specialize in Chicago evictions and they do A LOT of evictions each year (they file 400 actions per month!).

And each state will impose its own special challenges, such as TX and NC.

You have a huge active club in DCYou might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing.