Mostly muti use buildings with retail on the ground level and condos above.  

It is a great tool that you can use in the RE industry and it is the cheapest money you will ever get. 

Being a bit young and nuts I went here to invest in real estate myself, ended up doing a startup in the real estate industry and now run a real estate consultancy and brokerage myself with my wife and some local partners.I'm trying to inject a bit of Australian integrity into the process and have run through it myself a few times (have a number of properties here).

I would think someone would notice 11 units in 2 houses.I think the only safe offer strategy would be based on restoring to SFHs and selling on the retail market. 

The retail values of properties in that area range from 100-300k depending on what neighborhood you're in which I think are pretty good ARVs for flipping because you want a price that a lot of home buyers will want to buy in.

You had a bad experience with a professional in the real estate industry.

You need to find a way to become an insider.Your referral source already has established relationships with real estate industry professionals, perhaps thru legal groups; perhaps thru social networks and affiliation. 

Check out areas that surround the high priced markets - are any of them poised to see growth / increased industry within 5 - 10 years?  

There are great business forums out there but they are industry specific.Mechanical engineers and fast food franchise owners and medical techs rarely talk to each other or have much in common.Try using www.DogPile.com search engine. 

In a normal retail transaction this is usually after the inspection period is over and everything is good.