Some lessons learned:-REALLY look at the contract before signing-DO NOT trust a general contractor you don't know-It's worth paying a good attorneyThanks again for the advice in this thread.

However, I had 2 "friends", who willing to do all the work for me without money, and I think they donot have any license, but they know how to do some work, so I trusted them and let them do it. 3 months passed, I came to the house to see all the work they've done... nothing was done right.

Do your due diligence and then trust your numbers and pull the trigger.Get out of education mode and get into investment mode as soon as you can.

But no way should you jump $125k, just because.Don’t necessarily trust the agent; do your own due diligence.  

When Homeaway began to restrict the ability for owners to see the guest's email address or telephone number I was worried that because I could not talk to the guest when they initially inquired (as was my procedure) I would end up having to cancel bookings because the guest might not meet my requirements (age, number in party, non-smoker, no parties, etc.)

Like I don't trust what he did to them.  

TRUST BUT VERIFY is something you hear often and you should.

I just don’t trust they’ll do a good job and potentially could end up harming the tree. 

There is another way to ahead of those bidder approved yourself with appraisal condition open---Once you have property address you can close in 15 days or less  depend on appraisal report.

We settle in 3 weeks, has anyone ever put up a Craigslist post (no pics or address) BEFORE settlement to try to secure/gauge interest?