Time is your factor here.

As you noted there are some factors that impact the condo value that do not apply to SFR.

But pretty rare. 70% less repairs deals are scarce enough.The formula comes from two factors.1.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated as always as well as any feedback on my idealism.

They generally do not know the laws.Ryan's point about motivation is definitely a factor.

and I don't know much about VA loans/assumables, so that's another factor...UGH.

i'm all for people reaching their goals.and yes, 17k is a good amount of money...and i'd hate to see someone attempt to buy property in or near NYC, with only 17k in the bank and watch it all go right out the window.to me, you've got to move where the market is improving and where it is affordable.surely NYC and long island is not the ideal place to START.now if your 17k was 170k - then we're talking.

Ideally it should be an independent third party company (their Aunt Martha doesn't count).

Commercial loan options that require less then 20-25% exist in bounty---97/95/90 LTV/CLTV commercial financing is available from a number of sources varying on property type, occupancy and other factors not mentioned.Unlike residential loans, legal entities don't get the bad rap with commercial lenders---the same estimates I provided above would apply.

You might be looking at more like 20% off.Either way you need to factor 10-15% minimum of ARV (depending on your financing and how much a realtor/auctioneer is charging you) for holding costs, resell costs, and closing costs.If you buy it for 190K, you sell it for 220K, and it takes you 2-3 months to actually close on it when selling with a 10% premium to the auctioneer and closing costs, you just broke even while taking on a tremendous amount of risk.Keep in mind when auctioning it, the auctioneer could take upto a month to market the auction and then the buyer will still probably have 30 days to close.