Personally, when I deal with REOs, I don't put in ANY contingencies.

Our philosophy here is to focus on the individual, not their company.

How do I search for individuals in my area?

Every individual property is in a seperate LLC and as broke as possible, this limits the liability should something go wrong (lawsuit) at any one property.

i look forward to networking and am excited to absorb the knowledge from such helpful individuals that know the business - hopefully, i can offer help myself while i progress in this business and work to get out of corporate america as soon as possible!

I have no idea of what the individual wants for the building, but I was wondering if the same rules apply when looking at a 1-4 unit building as compared to a 12 unit apt building.ie 50% and 2% rules.

I could see bringing out a contractor to provide estimates if a) I were going to go through on the deal and use that contractor from time to time; or b) was looking at properties individually and had time to go look at each one and bring a contractor out.

It does not work for most of the investors I deal with, but if the property is being bought as a residence, its not a big deal.

However, as kenvest said, you would need to be able to accurately diagnose potential problems that you see, so therefore getting a professional inspection would be ideal.

sending Tony Soprano in would be ideal to say the least :-)