Now my gut says don't trust the guy.

It takes me under 15min to change all locks, since I leave the latches.I also always have a set of toilet guts, bathroom faucet, and kitchen faucet (no sprayer) my truck.

I have 0 interest in flipping or gut rehabs, but am okay with places that need some plastic surgery / cosmetic work.My current plan is as follows:-Buy as many SFR or 2-4plexes as my cashflows and debtload can handle, while meeting the 2% rule.

What I'd like is to have one person I could call who would instinctively know how to fix-up a vacant rental to make it look like it did when it was last vacant.

I'm a fairly new investor: But I'll comment with general costs since I dont know how they change per region(I'm east coast). ballpark Costs: kitchen gut 20-30k (maybe less if you can manage all labor yourself), bathrooms 10k each, not confident enough about window costs and are variable (double pane, size etc), paint 2k or more, carpet 2-4k(size of house variable), labor???.

We spent "just" $55k on it, and did things like -* New kitchen* Jack the house up (Foundation was failing)* New mechanicals (plumbing, electric, HVAC)* Sheetrock* Roof* Landscaping* Shed out back* Paint* 2 small bathrooms, gutted out and refinishedThings we didn't do -* New doors* New windows* Sand and refinish floors (We just did a buff and shine treatment)This was a lightweight rehab.

My instinct is to introduce myself as the manager, an employee of the owner.

I have thought about cash for keys, but no one is living there and like you said not sure if legally that would even work, so I am just going to basically do a wait and see approach and drive by it a bunch just to make sure I don't see anyone taking copper pipes ect... and I have given my info to all of the neighbors so they can call me if they see anything shady, but I am planning on basically gutting the house anyways and I have it insured already in case it burns down, so hopefully won't have any problems, but never know I guess.This was the 1st tax auction in my county in over 2 years so not something that happens on a regular basis and 1st one I have bought at Tax auction, so just has me a little nervous having all that money tied up for 3 weeks not having any access to the property, but hopefully it should be fine.

The key is to balance your fear and gut feeling, not allowing it to hold you back, but using it as a tool when making decisions.

Days until the I send the statement re. sec. deposit deductions (within 21 days)My gut feel says number two is the way to go without leaning too much out the window.