I think if you have "boots on the ground" in place in NY and/or don't mind making the trip then you should take advantage of your knowledge of the local market.I am not sure where you are getting your list of apartment owners from, but I typically use a cheap postcard on my first mailer to "scrub the list". 

Maybe in a nutshell the typical process, chances of actually winning a bid?

They typically do not go ( they are with such and such company so I will go with them.) 

There are no repairs requested, no loan contingency, no appraisal contingency. typically no cold feet buyers who back out for no good reason, etc. 

For a cash out refi, typically your LTV will be 70% on a multifamily, so you would need it to appraise for $1M in order to pull out $700,000.

I typically ask about replacement dates of roof, electric box, plumbing and water heater).

As noted earlier the depreciation recapture isn't typically eligible for instalment sale reporting benefits. 

Also realize that typically (or recently in my experience) banks are tightening up their apprasials.

@Barry Je they typically dont work.

Commercial lenders typically don't do preapprovals, but a forwarded email from your lender would suffice.