Hi All - I am in the early stages of my investment education (lots of reading, researching, etc,) and am trying to reconcile what I have read/heard with the reality of my local market.

Education, networking and some resources will help greatly.

I have been to several auctions myself just for educational purposes.

When you use expensive money like that, time is your enemy and you need to be extremely confident in your ability to deliver on time, within your holding period estimates.

Plenty of education time.

@Rob Beardsley - I didn't do that at first (IRR) I just wanted to know my return versus "what I'd have if I had put my 60 grand in a CD" - But I just did an IRR, using CAPEX as "periodic investments" and CASHFLOW as "periodic withdrawals" and cash at closing as my ending value, and came up with a 37.4% IRR.

(Presuming that you're still within your due diligence period).If you're getting a killer deal that you don't want to walk away from, I'd be inclined to go with the @Nathan G. solution and talk with a couple of contractors.FWIW, I never want to seller to make the repairs. 

That sounds strange, but you have nothing holding you back from venturing out of your security...because you have lost that security blanket that was your job.I would venture to say, that most of the success stories in history, started out where you are right now...me included.So, with nothing holding you back, and with plenty of time on your hands (time will always be your greatest asset...since you can never get it back), if you want to get into REI, you need to do the following:1 - Learn,2 - Learn some more,3 - Keep learning.Places to learn (before you say "that costs money"), that don't cost any money are:1 - Online education sites that have free articles written by experts in their fields.2 - Free e-books, that you can get online.3 - Joining your local REIC's to both learn and network.4 - ...and never stop learning...even when you become a success at this (and you will)Also, three very critical actions you MUST follow to be a success:1 - Always think possitive.2 - Train yourself to think of future "obstacles" as temporary problems...and you are the problem solver. 

Typically if they have plans to move they will not want to spend any money on the space in the short term.Howe far in advance do they have to give notice to renew the lease before exercising the first option period?

What in the hell was the friend doing during this time period?