I was doing short sales before Realtors had the term, buying the note is another way to go.Don't forget to assess the costs of foreclosure, protecting the collateral, holding period, costs of sale and the proceeds from a sale paying the note off.

Now that the federal government is involved (see FHFA Issues Warning on Super Priority Liens), this ruling won't last long - as federal legislation is adopted to protect the interests of quasi-governmental agencies like FNMA and Freddie Mac.  

Definitely require documentation of all claims to protect both yourself and your investment.

It's a red flag that they don't have credit to protect, so harder to recover damages at move out, but often work out fine.

i completely agree j Martin, but you can think of it as a way of protecting your future profits from contacting due to ever rising utility bills.Brooklyn is like hipster mania and they will eat it up!

The supposed extra protection is largely non-existent. 

I would like to incorporate before getting into dealing so i can officially do business as the company (marketing, selling, dealing) so the question i have is what state is good to incorporate (i am thinking of an LLC) from the viewpoints of taxation, privacy/anonymity, asset protection, annual fees?

Steven, you suggested flips in an SCorp but my understanding is that the SCorp doesn't offer the legal protection that an LLC does.  

I do have my own home and some retirement portfolios so I would like to protect my current assets before jumping into RE with both feet.

I use entities, operate in a responsible and legal manner, and carry insurance as protection.