To buy a house, settle on it, market it, pay carrying costs, and have a second settlement can be about 15-20 % in soft costs.

This time I scared the deadbeats into deediing it back, saving me $1200 or so in attorney fees, and got a $2000 insurance settlement check from them for some damage caused by "vandals"-probably their tenants as these guys were, unknown to me, trying to be landlords without having a clue what they were doing.Anyway I've been working on it for 3 weeks, on thier utilities and insurance and now have a contract for $100K.

This way the seller can not try to force a settlement on that day.

The settlements up to policy limits vary though.

It depends on what they are showing as the purchase price on the HUD settlement statement.

I did hire a realestate attorney for the paperwork/settlement.

Suppose the seller will gives you $10,000 at settlement and includes all the furniture and the cars in the garage and gives you a 6 month grace period on the owner financed mortgage, how do you calculator s CAP rate.I love CAP rates, but I love the other method of calculating my investment return, it's call the "Gut Feeling", do I feel good, am I making money, OK, I'll go for it!

Tim, wouldn't a lien be paid off a settlement (barring that there is enough to cover).And what do you mean by fear style marketing?

That right there is enough for a defense attorney to jump on the settlement bandwagon.

Some short sale settlements include language "forgiving all deficiencies" meaning the lender gives up the right to sue you later for their losses.