I guess it would be good to educate the seller too on just how big and important of a repair/job the mold will be.I'll keep you updated on the outcome.

It's hard to manage the financials of any project where it's simply a "black box" (i.e. you put money into the black box and out comes something on the other side).Since I'm a project manager by trade (in IT, not construction), then I tend to do my own project plan as shown in this PDF (http://www.fileswap.com/dl/Y0pnvHtHym/).

Certainly a question to cover with the estate attorney as state and probate laws may influence the final outcome.

Moreover, the amount of money you are willing to risk can influence the outcome.

I think for what you are trying to do you need to think about several different possible outcomes and make sure you can be satisfied with them before taking the step of getting a property.

Always look for win/win outcomes.

To roll out your plan, Paul, I would also be farming for additional houses to pick up and add to your portfolio, so you're not relying on the outcome of this particular transaction.

You will never, never, never see it again regardless of the outcome of the deal.Either hold it in a bank account or have the closing attorney hold it depending on your end buyer's preference.

Going forward I will pay more attention to different possibilities of neighborhood boundaries and model different outcomes of appraisals based on that.

Or, any event that takes prior to the foreclosure auction where the asset is still a whole loan and not real property for the mortgagee has an financial outcome limited by the aggregate sum of unpaid principal, interest accrual and advances..Thomas, I am not correcting Bill, only trying to explain what he is saying in a different manner.