Of course they were all making random comments to me about what a mess the place was to scare me off.

That is why I said;Although sometimes the parties sign docs at separate times.I've learned a lot about the differences around the country by being corrected or having posters add to my comments.

I'd love to hear from those of you already invested in the area for any 'getting started' advice/comments to a newbie interested in the area. 

It may or may not be certified.And in the comments above, substititute "City" everywhere they say County. 

Thank you all for the welcoming comments, it looks like there's a lot of positivism, so I'm in the right place.

It seems I started posting and commenting on other threads and discussions without making my own introduction!

So Brian sounds like he has a buyers broker on his side from his post.The person commenting about the buyers agent out for commission I think that is funny from the perspective of there really isn't ant money on this deal.The agent gets 3% commission say on 27,000 so that is a whopping 810.00.

Sherry-Some of the appraisals that came in low and emphasized in the comments the excessive profits ended up killing deals (me as the buyer).

This comment doesn't even make sense to me...

Perhaps some BP'ers will leave comments on their experiences with these providers.