I decided that I want to start actively pursuing this interest in the hopes that I can soon retire from retail and in 15-20 years from now I will have enough investment properties to sustain a comfortable lifestyle that I can enjoy.

There will be sooooooooo many different scenarios when you start talking to sellers, it will force you to grow, and it will make you become sharp and get you comfortable with talking to sellers.

I would run side by side comparisons of your purchase scenarios (cash buy vs 15 year vs 30 year) so you can see which set of numbers you're more comfortable with.

If so we would defiantly feel comfortable moving on the deal before the auction date.

I'm trying to learn about house flipping as rapidly as possible, as I do not feel I have adequate knowledge right now in house flipping to be comfortable carrying out this type of project.

It's working for me so far and this is my comfort zone because I invest in the areas I know well and have easy access.

If you are going to be using credit cards to buy the deal, and then credit cards to do the major rehabs necessary - I think everyone here is seeing that you will be tapping yourself out and the next major issue (car accident, health issue, etc) could really put a strain on you financially.In the end you have to be comfortable with the risks, but take the free advice you are getting from people with experience seriously.

So I don't think there is much competition for this property as not many know about it or are comfortable bidding online.

They won't budge out of their comfort zone of New Orleans.

Or is it more cash flow that concerns them, and what's the comfortable % of ARV after repairs they would look for?