This is my first auction purchase, so any insights or advice from those familiar with this process would be appreciated.

So the current owner is a large investment group that bought a lot of property last year and has decided to diversify now, so while I absolutely get your hesitancy about the possible lender issues, I am not as worried about that as wondering about the terms of the loan itself.  

However, not everyone has the income to qualify conventional, so the alternative route would be DSCR loan where the program doesn't look into your income, instead it evaluates based on the subject property rental performance based on the ratio system.

I did mention the general neighborhood that has the word “Lake” in it so the AI must’ve picked that up.

It is nice to start conversating with people before we get down there so we can make the most of our time.

So, it’s important to do your research—check the developer’s reputation, consider proximity to jobs and schools, and look into any tax incentives.

Rent paid for all of the expenses, so it cost me nothing and over the years (I kept it for ~20 years) price almost tripled by the time I sold it.Not sure what grad program is 3 years (I'm used to 2 for masters, 4 for PhD), but if you do need to sell one, I'd look at each property and see which one has the most equity, highest interest rates, lowest return, major expenses in the near future (eg new roof) and you mentioned you'd lived in two for 2 of the last 5 years, so have capital gains exemptions. 

PP as is  35krehab 70kSale price  189k  Net 170k on hud My fee 12k Insurance pass through  I pay for the insurance as well they pay me back when it closes  450.. net to my client  52k is my client has to pay the utls  So with my establish clients were we are well under 70% ARV I fund 100 % of purchase 100% of rehab I pay for the insurance andthere are no payments we all get paid off the HUD the same day..

One side is about 95% complete and the other side about 50% complete.Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss what I've learned so far.

The deal has enough skin on it that we will still make a nice profit (its a multi unit with other units so this isn't our whole budget) so thankfully just comes out be a learning experience.