Also, $100K is 33% of $300K. 33% in 5 years is no great shakes, less than 6%/year, the stock market will beat that in most 5 year periods.Also, you still haven't covered vacancies, repairs, maintenance, management or any of the "gotchas" that typically will run up your true cost of ownership.

If the property opens up to investors tomorrow and I make a bid, will they hold that for a certain period of time before they determine who had the highest bid?

Cashflow will determine which is best, projected appreciation etc can help you decide but imho cashflow is king!

Although I'm not much for psychological mumbo-jumbo, I think that you should sincerely examine yourself to determine whether you're truly suited to this business.

So they have slightly damaged (not fatal) credit, and say 2-3% they can put down as an option.They still need a roof over their head and they can work towards ownership.

Then, you would create a quit claim deed that transfered ownership of the property to the LLC.

Granted you would likely lose ownership of the LLC so you would lose all the assets.If the LLC was sued and many of your assets were not owned by the LLC then you might continue to retain the assets outside the LLC.The idea is the LLC is not you and you are not the LLC.

After reading kiyosaki i decided to learn as much as i could about REI. my family has never owned a house and it seems we moved yearly. so i am determined to provide a stable place to live for my future wife and family. it is to that end that i would like to learn about this wonderful market.

In my area it's nearly impossible to determine an ARV when the market is continuing to fall with no end in sight.

So, you can determine from your computer if it's even worth going to the sale.