After materials, fees, ect.

You can either look around online or go to Home Depot/Lowe's to get an idea of what materials will cost you.

Cash only" tells me that the condo development no longer qualifies for conventional financing (too many investors/delinquent fee's/ and/or other issues.The selling agent may not be able to disclose too much info to you, but you have a right to know about material facts that affect the property.

Three items top the list in this scenario: 1) inquiries to get new loan; 2) age of the new loan; 3) increased utilization.

They have experience and good references.The problem with property managers operating on a "time and materials" basis with their maint. staff, is that, regardless of what they tell you, they have no incentive to hurry (in fact, just the opposite, to keep these employees busy at your expense).

For a proper assignment you will, for one thing, need to recite the subject property and that lien being assigned, I have never seen a draft big enough....LOLThe lien holder will have to execute the assignment agreement and endorse the instrument representing the lien, like a note.Some liens can be acquired by law, like a tax lien or paying a materials lien depending on state law.

Utilities are $290 a month for the entire building (it's all metered together.

My quad's come out to 64,000 a door for 850 to 950 a month in rent on my apartments.I don't look at it only from a cash flow perspective however.The area I have the buildings in is an A location prime for redevelopment down the road.Mike it sounds like your local market is competitive with investors and your margins are thin.On one hand it is good to be in a thriving market where demand is strong because usually supply is lower and the amount of rentals and new development for multifamily cannot meet demand.This helps rents grow at a rate that outpaces utility increases and inflation.The downside is it can make some investors overspend on a property because they feel good about the market.I looked for over 2 years before I bought something.I said many times those buyers were nuts.I tracked the properties and many investment properties after purchase just 1 to 2 years later went into foreclosure.They bought at such a price that it wasn't sustainable.I look for a 10 CAP or better on my purchases.The problem is if you someone who has only gotten 1 percent interest off of a CD or Treasuries or they have gotten beat up in the stock market.Those types of buyers jump up and down to get a 7% annual CAP return beating out your offers everyday of the week.By in large many buyers like this can be lazy.They only look in the MLS for listed properties.Value can be found marketing to sellers that are not on the market.They don't want to make public all of their problems ( I know it is common knowledge of default at some point but this is their mindset ).

For what it's worth here are my observations.........1- 80% of the information on investing in real estate being sold ranges from totally worthless to incorrect and or possibly illegal2- another 10% might work under some circumstances but either the recipient of the information needs a much more educated and experienced background than he is led to believe or the circumstances regarding the success of the method being sold are limited to a certain geographical area or a certain type of market3- the 10% of information that has value requires work, dedication, persistence, education to be used successfully.4- Certain types of individuals can self study utilizing free information available online and learn as much or more as any program or course will teach them5- most gurus are not currently successful using the methods they teach; they may have once been successful in a particular type of market or in a particular location, but they are not currently utilizing the method they teach successfully.

Low enough to account for the extra costs (interest paid - or not gained if bought with cash, utilities, potential theft/vandalism, potential winter problems such as frozen/burst pipes that are now your problems, etc).