If they want more black and white than that, it'd have to be from the man upstairs!

Also highly recommend the Black Diamond meeting in Waltham (2nd location in Worcester).

So just carpet and paint doesn't usually cut it.And about price dropping for properties needing work - as long as you've got "subject to inspection" in black and white, you can make your original offer for full price to get their attention and then use every little blip on the inspection to drop your offer by thousands and thousands.

If you are interested, my podcast is #9.And of course I recommend my own group, Black Diamond first.  :-)  In addition to that, I recommend a couple others:  @Justin Silverio's group and New England REIA. 

Find them through Google and meetup.com Check out the Black Diamond events your way. 

I'll just say up front, there are a lot of the questions you've asked that have no black & white answers. 

Its not so black and white.

Not to say you don't sometimes need some black and white facts, but you'll do much better in your pitch if you know your subject and can relate your position on a personal basis.

In your area, I recommend South Shore REIA, and of course my own Black Diamond group, link in my signature, is a free meeting of 100+ investors every month.

I'm in west Joliet, around Black Rd and Rt 59.