I also work occasionally as a professional magician and mindreader.In short, my wife and I are good at creating businesses and not being adulty if at all possible. 

We buy at the auction and sometimes the occasional leftover lien (over the counter)

I'm biased because Ronit (my wife for those that don't know) worked at 61st and Arch for five years and I'm pretty comfortable in the area as I'd occasionally pick her up, drop her off, go to lunch in the area with her, etc. 

I occasionally listen to it nearly every day.I'm on a similar boat as you, but your goal of owning a property by this year is amazing, good luck

The Price would drop occasionally but the owner (recent heir) then lost the last tenant, so we thoroughly inspected it ourselves & my 'can't swing a hammer' partner offered them $38k less than the original asking price (CASH, no conditions) & we were told to 'go forth & multiply'. 3 weeks later our offer was accepted.

We would play with him occasionally and have fun.

We negotiate pricing, push for terms favorable to our seller, co-ordinate the signing of documents, manage various deadlines (P&S, extensions, inspections, mortgage commitment, closing, vet the financing before accepting an offer (yes, there are still garbage pre-approvals out there), co-ordinate inspections and appraisals - including well water and septic system tests, negotiate pricing adjustments following home inspection, support the sales price with comps for the appraiser, stomp out the various fires that pop up along the way, wrangle the occasional obnoxious or overly anxious seller, make sure that the attorneys are on track with disclosures like lead paint, asbestos, mold and septic, get the seller organized with final utility readings and transferring them to the buyer at the right time and managing the final walk-through the day of closing and getting to the closing table.Other than that, we don't lift a finger.

I like how much thought you've put into it, and the amount of time allows for the occasional snag in the road.

And we have landed – I like to think by accident – on a technology that perpetuates it and amplifies it, occasionally productively, but more often to no purpose at all.

Occasionally, I have sellers who want to confirm that buying “Subject To” is okay and that everything is on the up and up.