And that is what is needed if your going to buy a home at discount or pre foreclosure etc. and your skill set can be what you learn and then what you craft for your PERSONALITY not one size fits all.But there are certain trigger lines.. you have to learn to not sell past the close .. you have to know when to shut up.. you have to be able to lead them to the conclusion you want.. and again ASK for the order...

Biggest difference in similar price points would be size of house and size of property.  

Below is my analysis:Assumptions:3/2 rents for $1900 (varies between $1800-$2300 depending on location/lot size)3/2 ARV $300K (low end of market)Hard money purchase @ 11%, 4 points3 month rehabPurchase/Holding/refi costs ~ $20kRefi @ 7% 30yearYearly operating cost $6000 (includes property taxes)Unit is rented out immediately at completion of rehabNumbers after purchase:Rent: $1900Average operating expenses: $500Minimum cash flow: $200Left over for Mortgage: $1200Refi max: $180kLTV: 60%Numbers for purchase:Hard money max: $160KRehab: $20k (out of pocket)Purchase/Holding/refi costs: $20kMax offer: $140k <----------Purchase price to ARV: 46.7%How do my numbers look?

As far as buying the white elephant on the block...yes it is the biggest house on this block BUT if you cross over and go to the other side of MLK you will find homes very comparable in size. 

If memory serves me correctly, I made about $20K on that deal.

Well your not just not hitting the 70% rule you aren't even hitting 85%.For a deal of that size I would generally want to target a 10-15% minimum profit, so you are barely hitting that with NO costs other than you pretty optimistically low rehab budget.Do you have like $320K cash to buy and fix it or are you getting a loan?

@Tom HarringtonI'm an attorney in the Cleveland area that focuses heavily on real estate law and serving real estate investors.

Serve your deals up on a silver plater.  

SA is a strange market in that while it has a downtown proper, there is not the development and central job market you would expect with a city of that size.

If you had taken note of the foreclosure and financial instability these would have served notice as to instability in other of their dealings as has been revealed.