We were never provided with a commitment letter, which he was to provide within 10 days of signing the contract.

Online works well for folks who can't commit to fixed day-long classes, like those w/ FT jobs, parents w/ young kids, etc.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill helped me with commitment setting (others would call it goals), and Roger Dawson's The Secret to Power Negotiating was an enormous help.  

I work full-time as a medical device sales representative in the Pittsburgh/Western PA/Northern WV markets full-time.Over the past several months, I have been committing my nights & free time to learning as much as I can about the industry and the opportunities which may be out there to build wealth through different aspects of Real Estate ownership. 

I may be too conservative, but you really ought to have possession before advertising or committing the property to a leasehold.

Unless your first deal is pretty huge and long term I would not worry about setting up an entity just yet.Go out there and get a deal under your belt to prove to yourself that you are committed and are going to be in this business long term then worry about the LLC.In the end tons of things can be done ahead of time before getting deals done. 

I am sure it took a lot of courage to write that post.But you are right that staying committed and not giving up is the difference being successful and being average.

Definitely get a title search/commitment.  

Just have your partnership in writing and try to do one project committed to that person until have  learned some more.  

This is not legal, unless it is disclosedBe ready to do business, since you are paying cash, have that cash ready; get credit lines, borrow money and put it in account for your auction business, have partners (preferable family) with the cash ready to useGet your name on the mailing list of all of the auction companies in your area so that you are notified of salesTalk to the auction associate in charge to try to get some inside information about the sale; is it owner ordered, bank auction, foreclosures, will they accept a precaution offerAsk questions, what is the reserve (sometimes they will tell you, sometimes they won't, what is the balance of the mortgage, if your are the high bidder will you get the property free and clear of any liensWhat is the first deposit, what is what is the second depositis there interest on the high bid from the day of sale to day of settlement (this could be very expensive), there are times when due to a legal situation, the trustee can't settle the property immediately and it may take 6 months or longer, this means that you may be paying 1% or more per month until settlement.How soon will you have to settle, 5 days, 10 days, 30 daysCan you have possession immediately (you should get this, it will give you a head start on cleaning the property up and prepping for re-sale or rentalWill the auction company disclose any known defects (septic system failure, well failure, termites, water problems...etc,Ask for a copy of the auction contract and forms you will be required to sign and read every word......make sure you understand what you are committing to do (many of those contracts have hidden clauses that will hurt youWill they accept your business or personal check (try to get approved to use your checks (most auction companies require certified funds, if that is a requirement, get a certified check made out to you)Make sure you have good comparable sales data, you need to know what the value is and what you can sell it for immediately if you have to, try to understand the repair cost alsoYou may want to consider selling the property (assignment) before settlementSet your high bid price and don't go higherCheck out your competition at the sale, most of these folks are professional buyers (predators) and will out bid you or give you a chance to out-bid yourself......be careful, try to get to know them (you will see them at every auction sale, they are really good at what they do.