People who bought and hold aggressively between 2009 until now are doing very well, but if the market flatten out or go negative & your strategy depends on equity gain, you will be in a world of pain.

@John Baker, what I mean is that as an investor your business card just as all of your marketing should promote what you do; help alleviate pain from home owners with distressed properties. 

Being a landlord is a pain in the butt.  

my son has a neurological illness that throws him into excruciating pain.

You may be able to get some history with name and birthdate and maybe a driver's license number but my immediate thoughts are that they are either hiding something or extremely paranoid, either way they are going to be a pain in the butt.I will not enter into a fiscal contract with and rent to anyone that I cannot verify who they are and do my due diligence on. 

At the hearing I presented my case, confident, prepared with sharp and pointed criticisms for the assessor's case.

Again, the summary is you do NOT want to push it as close as your example as you can run into a MAJOR pain in the butt in that scenario.

Interested in investing because it is painfully obvious that my career compensates for minutes spent in a chair. 

The buyer needs to feel the pain if they commit to a property at a good price and then back out. 

Short sales are a huge pain and can take forever.