From an insurance aspect, do you have a good insurance agent that you can pick their brain on if un-permitted work caused a fire, if insurance would still cover it?

I'm not implying that's a bad thing, but the problem (for them) is that when they ask in forums like this, or on the phone, the casual investor will tell them, "Gastonia, Kannapolis, Belmont, etc.." but, everything is certainly picked over, and the competition to get property in those exact areas is outrageous.

I am just trying to pick the brain of anyone who has more experience and ideas so that we have a plan for next year. 

I have thought several times over recent years how it would be nice to be able to pick up some property cheap, fix it up, and rent it out for a steady stream of income.

I picked a company that recommended interior mudjacking and 17 exterior piers.

So would it be safe to assume the longer the houses are sitting in the tax auction, the more likely something is wrong with it. being that investors with a lot of on hand cash would’ve/may have picked it up already?

Sometimes that is real estate, and sometimes it is the broken appliance I pick up for free or low cost to rehab, and end up making the same %, or more.

As I have started picking up some mid sized 20ish unit apartment buildings here in the Chicago suburbs I have been running into tenant package loss complaints more and more.

As an agent, are you seeing people still able to pick up SFR and Duplexes for around $80k-100k.

Just be careful to properly comp your ARV for refinance purposes - it can be tricky to pick the right comps without knowing the city.Good luck!