Sold comps on a 2/2 in the same complex from August of 2012 (ugh) sold at $115K which would make the target property around $108 a sq ft (but it has only one bath and I don't know how to account for that in the comp - what is the "value" of a bathroom).I've stayed away from really looking at condos because of the HOA/condo fee involved and being subjected to the whims of the condo association, but I don't know if I should do that or not -- am I blowing opportunities by doing that.

Well, It's not easier, but I think it's nicer, therefore smarter.

(can be an easier route than wholesaling) This way you can have some funds and also get a better feel for business.

That seems to be targeted to homeowners who can't get traditional mortgages, whereas hard money is targeted to investors for either fix-and-flip or fix-and-refi.However, if you try to use this like hard money and pay it off in a year, it will cost you 28-34%(includes their 20-25% markup in re-selling the property to you, plus the 8%-9% note rate), whereas you can probably get a comparable amount of hard money for half that (inclusive of points).And chances are good that a HML will loan more, including a good portion of the the necessary rehab, than this comany.For an investor, this makes no sense.

This would also make it that much easier for me to then refinance the 1st mortgage is saving me even more money.

Don't think there is no competition in small towns.Larger cities will have more people involved in RE, the competition may be more sophisticated, bigger players, more inventory but more feeding off it too.Smaller towns usually have slower turn over, a property that's difficult to sell is easier to buy.

Don't take one person's target rents as gospel, it's different in every market, can be similar but no two market areas are alike, nor are any two properties.You can run numbers all day and never be correct in getting the actual year end numbers.

This question is best answered by studying the target market and demographics for the neighborhood.

Sometimes, it's much easier to purchase properties because you may not have to jump as many hoops or pluck down quite as much as a bank would require you to.

Work that list (assuming you started with a good one), touching them at least 5 times.One of my larger targeted lists is about 2,000, but I also have a small list of 50 out-of-state owners in my area that have 100% equity - I treat that small list a bit differently (send them different postcards/messages) than the larger list.