I also specialize in short sale transactions, so if anyone has any questions about that I am here to help.

Taxes, Utilities, the Economy, Competition.These and other factors will effect your Commercial Investment and you have NO CONTROL over what they might be or do in the future.So what is the one MAJOR ITEM/EXPENSE you can control???

after that's out of the way, i'd like to jump back into the REI educational process and start buying more for the return/income stream.Can someone point me to a forum or a book to read that can help me with such a basic transaction?

The problem is, when the improvement monies are wrapped in the new mortgage the transaction thats higher (sales price boosted to include closing costs) causes me to borrow and improve more than the original offer would have been originally without agreement to include closing costs.

Funds can be kept in trust and only used at the closing table for each transaction.

If one is purchasing near the median price there is generally +- 7% on the table before the transaction begins.

An owner selling by themselves can forego/accidently overlook certain steps in the transaction whereby a licensed agent would be compelled to expound i.e. inspections and disclosures.I would limit my exposure by offering owner financing bad credit ok with 5 or 10% down, then sift thru the possible leads for someone who qualifies for an 90 to 95% sub-prime mortgage or who has the best possibilty of qualifying for one in a year.

I wouldn't sweat it about the possibility of losing money in a real estate transaction.

As a bird dog in the transaction, you have no real legal place there unless you make one.

In real estate, a transaction could be risky if you dont know and understand your market and what the current real estate trends are in your area.