In my opinion doing that makes sense if you're "saving" part of the commission on your end.

I don't deal in Orange County, so I don't know the level of detail you can find online as to the progress of the foreclosure, if there is one.

I do not have personal experience investing in flyover states, so take this with a grain of salt.This is my 'gut reaction,' which could 100% be totally off & I'll defer to those with actual experience 100%...Any place you are buying that has tenants paying 2x in rent what they could otherwise pay in PITI because the [ $70k * 3.5% = $2450 ] down payment is too much of a down payment for them to save up, isn't exactly going to have high quality low maintenance intelligent people as tenants. 

This means that saving $15K is out of the realm of possibility for those people.

I like the idea of doing all your research online for the convenience efficiency and the ability to keep records seamlessly .

Even if you wanted to save that expense, you should "pay" yourself that amount by allowing for it as part of your expenses.The problem is: a bad Property Manager will cost about the same dollars as a good one - but your expectation of positive investment returns could be reliant on finding/being a "good one"!

hello to all. just a quick description of myself. i am a real estate investor working in the western New York area. i have been doing this in this area for 12 years now, with many successes. i am a licensed home inspector, work as a handyman for a local property management company, and currently own several investment houses. i can safely say that i know the area quite well. given my home inspectors experience, i feel very confident in my ability to judge the condition of a house and evaluate the rehab to bring it back to a marketable condition. having a degree in accounting, i feel quite confident in my ability to manage the numbers part of the transaction as well. having recently passed a course in furnace installation and repair, i feel i can safely replace appliances such as the furnace if need be and a water heater if need be, saving large sums of money in the rehab. he is what i am looking for. i am looking for a HML to fund my latest find. a 4 bedroom, one bath house with two stall garage in a family neighborhood that i currently own 2 houses in and have purchased more in the same neighborhood in the passed. 

Check the Philadelphia dockets online.

Yes I'm "house hacking" to save money to purchase my next property.

Maybe start with a small amount of bandit signs and cycle them in areas while saving for a serious DM campaign.Hope this helps.