I have been spinning my wheels for a long time now and I want to try to see if I can find someone on here who invests in the area and can help steer me in the right direction.I have looked into several REO deals, but they all came up dry.

It's a bunch of BS created by our current government and is nothing but more bloat in my opinion.Yes if you are a Residential REO agent many of those are drying up as short sales are being pushed through before it forecloses.So YES I know an REO broker friend who has paired down and completed about 800 residential short sales with a 90 plus percent success rate.He is a beast at them and has it down to a science.Now for me I work the commercial real estate side.

Generally a cash out refinance done before an exchange is what would trigger tax consequences.As for the rest, everyone is correct, you do not have to invest all of your proceeds, but taxes will be paid on whatever you take out, or whatever liability you are relieved from and do not take on.

I do not understand how people can pull the trigger without a depth of information to support deploying the capital.

As a matter of fact, convetional retail buyers are drying up too.I suppose I'll need to slow down a bit on the flips, but it irks me to do so.

Their home is underwater (bought for 500k+ in '05, recent comps price it at 141k-200k).Here are additional details:-Current on payments, next payment due early next month, cannot make February payment because of engineering fee and temporary housing costs (family is staying at a hotel)-Both spouses have excellent credit, high 700’s to 800-Lender is BoA, outstanding balance on loan is 315k on fixed loan with 10 years left -House is red tagged by city, city requires engineer to do soil samples and analyze hillside risk post-landslide in order release the red tag status-Filed a natural disaster forbearance to suspend the payment-Filed claim request secondary to homeowners insurance denying the claim -Preliminary report by geotechnical engineer estimates 80k-200k to repair and install proper drainage to hillside adjacent to house-Property repairs estimated to be around 10k-Property damage:o Carpet o A couple windowso Dry Wallo Mold—water pooling from the back door, no proper dry out has been done (probably much more additional work/costs on top of original homeowner 10k estimate)They're thinking about filing for bankruptcy and foreclosing on the home.

What triggers the additional concern here?

The Owner who is doing the financing can trigger a non-compliant action by doing any of the following activities without a license:-Taking a mortgage loan application-Discussing interest rates, terms, loan payments or loan fees with the consumer-Negotiating loan rates, terms, payments, or loan fees with the consumer-Preparing a loan package for the consumer Yes, the owner financer can refer the customer to a third party licensed originator, such as a mortgage broker, to handle the loan origination and completing the government related documents for the loan.

We just use common dry wall joint compound and add a bit more water.

Plus it slows down the glue and paint from drying, floor glue for vinyl wont even set up below 60*F or so.