Have an $85 a month fee (Just to keep the lights on) and offer 100% commission, but only keep a $850 "Transaction fee."

Then I found a property fitting the criteria.Second option, find a bank that will accept a second position of 20%-25% from the sellers in a commercial transaction.

This lead was obtained by working with Retran, a "foreclosure" websiteThis transaction was a short sale approved How did you finance this deal?

Not sure what the answers are but I do wonder if the transfer is not immediately taxable in CA, whether the LLC will be subject to the $800 CA Franchise Tax Min charge, and whether CA will require you to pay income tax if you later dispose of the replacement TX property in a taxable transaction.

The agent did not earn commission on the deal as it was off-market and the seller and I handled the transaction.

This will be a one and done transaction in IL as I actually live in WI so there really is no need for me to build a relationship with an agent on this one. 

I made roughly $30k on each of those transactions.

Plus, your friends are operating there, so a great reason to visit perhaps.However, when discussing opportunities with any buyer or seller (not just investors) coming to an understanding of what is the Single Most Important Goal for them in this transaction is very helpful.As this won't be your first escrow, you likely understand things can pop up.

This could also be a police issue as technically it is a vehicle illegally parked.

A little bit of charm with them has gone a long way**************************** Good for you, if that works, although, it is technically not legal to dictate who the appraiser is, either by you or anyone directly connected with a financial benefit resulting in the transaction (i.e. anyone at the Lender that is tied to the transaction closing).