I lived in Japan for 20 years and was going to start building my USA based portfolio from Japan.

My idea was to set a date for an as is auction and put out signs, flyers, and social media ads for the auction the week leading up to it.

I am still working on challenging that as the ruling is locally based by the property management company.  

Your post said Real Estate not mortgages.. big difference.. so I responded based on Real Estate law for licensed agents..

We will choose our general contractor based upon reputation, references from my own commercial construction contacts (I have held a LA State - Building Construction license since 2001), their solvency, then finally their proposed bid.

You can go up top here on BP to the "Forums" tab and then click on "Events/Meetups" and you'll find plenty of meetups depending on what area you are in. 

I have also used proceeds of a HELOC to fix up and repair some properties too

The BidRoom can bring the price down based on volume and margin of purchase.

If the owner redeems, you can keep all the rents up until redemption.

Just want to be prepared for the worst scenario if we end up in the eviction court.