We have already had meetings with city officials, investors and land owners.The point of this long post was to give people an idea of my journey as someone with little to no experience being able to take part in a multifamily development by believing you can, teaming up with right people, having a willingness to learn, and a healthy bit of luck.

Still, the offer as it stands seems like a decent one so long as even after the discount you are cash flowing positively and at a healthy amount. 

. - in case anybody was wondering, the baby was born 07-14-2007, and very healthy.

I started doing that several years ago and it's even more imperative today - there are markets out there that are relatively healthy (note the relatively).

Had about 54 cats that animal rescue pulled out of it.They got into the crawl space vent guard that was broken.The owner was a woman who loved pets but had mental health issues.Luckily the house only had a tiny mortgage on it relative to it's value.Cat urine was everywhere.We were able to eliminate it everywhere accept one room where she closed the door and 25 cats were in there.To get rid of that smell you had to tear the sheetrock down and replace the subfloors and Kilz everything.I sold it and collected my check to a cash investor.The lady kept 3 cats that were deemed healthy and moved into a big apartment complex facility that was a loft style with concrete floors.It was an old factory conversion into a 300 unit apartment complex.Had another property I did a Interior BPO on in pre-list for an REO.Owners had left dogs inside living there for 4 weeks with food to survive on.There were literally thousands of terds on every level of the 3 story house along with urine and clothes left behind.This was a few years old house in an upscale neighborhood of 500,000 to 600,000 homes.The neighbors came by and couldn't believe what they were seeing.So I will again say it's not about the pets but the owners who take care of them.On credit in my area most tenants have bad credit.If they have great credit they are buying a house for dirt cheap.The only reason they wouldn't is if they are staying for a short time or in transition.Why pay some landlord who could get foreclosed on 800 a month in rent for a 3 bed 2 bath when you can buy one for cheap.In my area you could get a mortgage and pay 500 a month for that same house.Many times people with good credit are ticking time bombs.They actually are not a great candidate but have just kept acquiring more debt to pay what they have until reaching critical mass.These types carrying a bunch of debt have bankruptcy in there future.When you rent to tenant out of a chapter 7 many have a fresh start and have income to pay the rent.So every renter is a case by case basis even though there are common traits involved.

That might be a good way for you to go - no hoops to jump through but you will have to put down a healthy percent as a downpayment in order to make it appealing to them.

To all my fellow investors, a healthy and prosperous new year.

Is the property in an area with any known soils issues (liguefiable soils, expansive clay, etc.)?

In our area we don't do perk tests anymore, they do "soil logs" where they take measurements of the layers of earth, seasonal high water table and take samples from dug holes.

My investment advisor asked me to get an inspection done from Healthy environmental service in Burlington ( http://www.healthyenvironmental.ca/services/black-mould-removal/ ) He even told me that they would do an air quality check immediately after the mould removal was done.