So knowledge of the city laws and zoning are needed.

The tough part for me as an investor would be to diversify my projects so much that I'm dealing with different types of real estate in different markets - too much ground and market knowledge to cover.

That's where there's widespread knowledge of the property's availability and because RE agents are involved, pricing is usually at or near retail.

Chris,I know you don't want to go to Pittsburgh, but there is an excellent real estate investor lawyer named Brad Dornish, he has rental properties as well, is extremely knowledgeable and reasonably priced.

John Pendergrast also is an investor and very knowledgeable.

Great plan.The other thing other than ensuring you have all the proper protections in place is to make sure you have the education and knowledge of exactly what it is you are doing.

Investors are supposed to be knowledge and able to take a risk, otherwise they shouldn't buy from HUD.If your numbers were off that much you either didn't look at the house in person or need to work on your ability to assess a property quickly without a contractor going through every switch plate and door knob with you.

You can keep the knowledge about the current place to yourself as a form of dramatic irony lol.

I have read a couple books and even to went to a "Guru" seminar but for additional mentorship from the guru I would've had to pay $2,000 dollars and quite frankly it seemed like a sales pitch more than anything else.I was even nervous typing this first post, but I know if real estate investing is something I want to do then I must take actions towards my goal and network with people anyway I can.So if anyone has any advice for me feel free to comment, I am currently looking for a second job to increase my funds for investing and marketing and also available to help to any wholesalers or real estate investors in any form so I can gain more knowledge of REI.

I think as others mentioned, using it for the Sold values and then building your own estimate is the only really useful tool for zillow.Before finalizing an estimate for ARV I always check with one of the real estate agents that I have networked with to get their estimate and then use that to further my knowledge of the local market to improve my own ARVs.