Unfortunately in Manhattan it is not so easy to break into the game and you need a lot of capital, but I am keeping my eyes open and starting to network so that when the perfect deal comes along, I can jump in!

@Arturo Martinez Your title, simply "Education" is perfect for me to rant!

@Lamar Cannon I have had the most success with the list above actually but also to include delinquent taxes.I conveniently hit the perfect storm earlier this week.

Originally posted by Bill Gulley: I believe BoA requires the pre-qual, not getting the financing from them.I certainly agree that requiring a buyer to use a particular lender is a bad idea (regardless of whether it's legal or illegal) -- you'll lose a lot of perfectly good buyers this way.We never require a buyer to use a particular lender and in-fact, we won't even require a buyer to pre-qualify with our lender, but we are more likely to accept an offer if the buyer at least agrees to pre-qualify and will offer very nice incentives for buyers to use our lender.For example, if a buyer refuses to pre-qualify with our lender, we'll write in the contract that we have the right to contact their lender, question their lender, and if we're not comfortable that the lender can get the deal done (whatever criteria we choose), we can back out of the deal.

They checked out perfect and I changed my mind (policy?)

Thank you Jon, this was the perfect answer to clear my head a bit on what is taking place.

I came across a little excerpt that I thought is perfect for all of us newbies that get into real estate investing and wanting to give up. 

This is the perfect place to learn more about REI.

Account Closed  Just read it back to yourself from another point of view:You plan to find a nearly perfect house in a great neighborhood that is selling far below market value but needs barely any work.

This is certainly a great community and it is also a perfect place to learn more about REI.