Hard Money still costs you money and if you can't perform, they get the house.

Try this scenario:You offer for sale w/o a contract or titlea buyer makes the as-is offer all cash for your priceyou accept and take the Earnest Money Deposit (forming a legal contract)30 days later, you still can't get the property under contractThe buyer now sues for Specific Performance (aka forcing the purchase) but you don't have the contract or title.That's FRAUD buddy.

@Nicole MichaelYou should always perform a title search before the auction.

Meanwhile, for the sponsor, the 8% payments commence within 30-60 days of closing on the property...regardless of the property's actual performance.

I pick up rent in person, perform all repairs (that I can) myself and try to build rapport with my tenants.

@Anthony Dooley while I agree with you in principle and always get a kick out of sellers asking to be paid for value they have not created, if there is enough value add and you are confident that you can actually capture the value add, that becomes the justification for 'over paying' on existing performance.

I company buys 1st lien non-performing notes.

I am an active GC and am currently performing a variety of services to a range of customers.

I like your casual approach of talking about it when your wife asks, "How was your day?"

For our purposes, is it better to buy a property that has historically good rent appreciation, price appreciation and low to little deferred maintenance vs a property that doesn't have the same performance all within a good microeconomic context?