I bet he had the ability to buy if he wanted to.

I imagine that could be a double edged sword if one were to fudge the numbers betting on property appreciating during renovations. 

At the end it's a lesson learned and your best bet is to minimize your losses.

I bet if you take the cash now in 5 years you will have little idea of where it all went.

If I used WF title company to do the search I can bet you my right arm that their search would NOT advise me of the issues with the title that exist! 

Of the hundreds of thousands of users, about 20% do 80% of the posting and actual transactions I bet.  

If you agree with this strategy, do you think credit unions or banks are my best bet?

For example, if maintenance has been low for the last few years you can bet you have a bunch of deferred maintenance.Typically if you have a signed contract a title company does the initial title search as part of what the expect to be a closing.  

@Mark S.Your private equity head is somewhat correct although mutual funds are largely beholden to large asset bases that make them closet indexers so they are not nearly as risky vs. an index (i.e. not as much selection risk) where as the type of fund we are talking about will be making a lot fewer selected bets and will probably be taking more risk so manager selection is uber important.

@Mohabub MiahSeems like you need to read @Brandon Turner book called "the book on investing in real estate with No and low money down"Also check out "The ABCs of real estate investing" by Ken McElroy since you are targeting apartments.As far as your immediate need of finding 20% down, which will probably be 35% due to the type of commercial loan you will need, I would guess your best bet would be finding a partner to come in on the deal with you.. and that will probably only be possible if its a really sexy deal.