The 3 main problems with not having it 'under contract' with the seller arise when 1) You do  a bunch of work only to have someone else buy the property and you get zilch 2) You do a bunch of work and the 'investor' buys it and gives you nothing.  3) You do a bunch of work and the investor passes or can't buy it after all.  

The main concern for me right now is the heat, although I could potentially meter the domestic water usage as well, but it would be more difficult due to the way the water lines are installed. 

I guess that's the main take-away from this post -  buy it right/make sure the numbers work for you.

The main thing you want to do is meet the people you will be working with and see the areas you think you are interested and make sure the area meets your expectation. 

go to their main office in PDX and talk to the loss mit dept.

If you currently have no capital, you have two main options: Save up capital, or find a creative way to secure your first property.

More realistic exterior maintenance is $18,000 and each interior rehab is going to be about $11,000 (Like I said, they're in pretty good shape as is - mainly just updating). 

That is the main reason I have not started to look for properties yet.

I am guessing that the main reason is that they do not want to deal with the FRPTA and the withholding issues that we foreign investors have.

Class B neighborhood, mainly a family town with large homes around it.