Even when they did answer, I felt the answer wasn't a confident one.

May be different in your area, but there is still a major distinction for most buyers.You seem very confident about the ARV, but then you say lots of stuff that indicates you think you might not be able to sell the house.

We know that right now neither one of us can move out the primary residence, but we cannot afford to keep paying the first home's mortgage, especially when the renters move out.Our realtor is confident that the first home with short sale, as it has many upgrades and is a very nice house.

One, I am currently deployed and these stories entertain me and give me something to do in my off time; and two, give me a little more confidence that I will succeed and carry on after my first deal is done.

After a couple days of back and forth he agreed to 83K, which I felt confident I could work with.

In my experience, if you are very confident that you are gonna be able to sell the contract, pull title.

About 80% of them in my state are in crap areas (war zones).The other 20% are the ones everyone is trying to buy in much better areas with the same or better rents and lower taxes.With any great deal everyone is looking for the needle in the haystack.I personally do not like these investments because of the intensive time they take and you get one bad tenant and cash flow is shot for the year.Also many of these homes are much older in age with deferred maintenance meaning huge bills down the road.The huge repairs would outpace any appreciation and rent increases in a bunch of cases.In my area jobs are more transient these days.Houses are harder to qualify for with the mortgage process.People do not want to buy a property when they see values going down and a bunch of HOA fees and maintenance bills.They would rather stay in an apartment complex where everything is done for them and can move in a quick changing market and stay fluid.Not all markets are like this and people are still buying homes here but not in droves.I think banks are expecting a fever pitch of buying this summers from home buyers.If that doesn't happen the banks won't feel as confident with the pent up inventory they will still need to liquidate.

If you go in to him shaking in your boots, then he may really see what he can get away with, so go with confidence.

Soon after the sale closed and my seller was able to move on with her life with full confidence her struggles with Bank of America were over for good.

Fantasm - thanks for the confidence in the property!