Some in our area have had success with REO auctions although I am not aware of any courses available, however, each auction platform has its' own process which they make known and the rest of the process is fairly straight forward auction protocol.

He seems like a straight shooter, good ol' boy.

Would you suggest going straight to a lender or use a broker then?

I have a simple one page Contract and it's pretty straight forward, should I send it to the seller to review before we both sign?

Things such as sewer and roof are usually pretty straight forward to repair so I would say don't let those deter you.

You could throw that under you general inspection, but I would like a separate line personally just show I'm later able to negotiate around the GI and point straight to the foundation issue and get some money taken off for the issue.Last thing (of this long rant), is if the foundation is really bad, you might have financing issues.  

One thing I like is that I can have calls go straight to voice mail if I'm not going to be able to answer the phone, like while I'm at work.

Thank you for the comment @Andrew Leese sorry I haven't gotten back I've been on the road for the last two days straight.  

I like locking in 3% money .history shows us that BA real estate goes up goes sideways and goes down a little all over about 10 year cycles.. so you simply do not sell in a down cycle.benefits to owning in the bay area now with a house hack is pretty straight forward1. you interest is a write off and this should save you money on your tax return . so factor that in.2. instead of rent your paying down a asset you own.. ( that's huge).3. stability never have to worry about lease terminating.4.

At that time the mortgage bankers I dealt with did not see any conflict of interest (I did, but I shot very straight in these deals, I had agreements to buy back any bad note too!).