I was the high bidder for quite a while and could have stopped bidding below the reserve, but I did not want to lose the property and continued bidding until I hit the reserve.  

Account Closed  I do a little of this and I would only deal with someone I can eye ball.and size up.. too many weirdo's and wanna bees on the internet or on bP or linkedin or facebook.I also owned a sizeable HML company and of course we advertised and many times did not meet our borrowers but if they were local we always had them come in.but I had a Accurant program to run them through that would detect fraud and I did that first contact.I have gotten a few loans from lendinghome and they do a back ground check which I think is great.But in general private lending is by non professional lenders known to you.. not people you meet on the internet that's a good way to lose your private money LOL

@Kenneth Shelley   another way to put what Don mentioned is you may want to walk before you run.if at this point in your career your asking these very basic questions your not really qualified to lead your investment group.. you may make it ok but you could very easily go through a steep learning curve and lose your close friends money and based on my long career working with investors I can tell 1000% you lose their money in a RE deal and you are no longer friends no matter how close you think you are now.as for some constructive feedback here Is what I would consider if I was in your shoes.I would get my Real Estate license so you can prove to them your a professional and care about your craft..

If you lose a deal, oh well, life goes on.....

Just double check all those numbers... you win or lose when you buy!

Geez, would a law professor be responsible for an attorney losing a case?

Excess amounts paid are considered a down payment and that can always be refunded in any court.Ohio recognizes the uniform commercial code, as do all states, there is nothing unique about Ohio with respect to types of contracts and now, this year, the IRS makes the determination of an installment sale or purchase contract at which point other agencies can then follow suit with applicable laws to the type of contract you may have.Using the words "Option", "Optionee" and "Optionor" are not sufficient to define your intent to sell, that comes from the amount of money paid, the term of the agreement, the price agreed, and the likely intent of the buyer to execute the agreement.

If those miles between home and job site are not considered business mileage I am going to lose a lot of business mileage deductions.

Now that I will be renting it out, and renting a place for myself somewhere else, how will the taxes play out, will I lose all the tax incentives from the mortgage?

I got my License in 2006, worked in the Default side of things, from my observation in the Fox Valley area (where i worked till November of 2014) values have not yet fully recovered to pre crash insanity numbers, we didnt lose sharply but are not returning quick either, while right now, activity is high, prices are not yet following, we are still down a good 10% I dont see that coming back any time soon, nor should it, prices were hyper inflated in 06/07' but who knows, with more buyers in the market that could change.