To address this many states pass laws concerning the sale of a controlling interest in an entity... so while you may think you've avoided paying transfer taxes that is not always true.People also do this to prevent a property from being re-assessed in jurisdictions where a sale would typically trigger that.

Typically you can request T12 financials, some will also provide the past 2 or 3 years.

Your uncle may be right about the 27 acres for $3k in AZ claim, but numbers like that are typically seen way out in the desert, miles from the nearest town (Holbrook, Kingman, St.

Banks typically won't come off their listing price very much. 

I'm starting to wonder how much affiliate commissions/earnings a podcast typically makes with these.  

Therefore, most underwriters take the loss to lease percentage of the gross potential rents number and apply that percentage to the pro forma projections or assume they can operate the property better by leasing units strategically by having leases expire in hotter (temperature and demand) months, thus applying a lower percentage of GPR loss to lease (typically 2% to 4%).

Building looks great and is in good condition...interior of course, is your typical rural post office with a suite of boxes, manned desk and your typical ramshackle disorganized US Mail back room. 

You could try to do some creative financing with the seller (seller financing, lease option, subject to, etc), but those are typically much harder to accomplish. 

For instance, the Standard Real Estate Contract that Real Estate Agents typically use in NJ is NOT assignable, as there is a section that specifically states that.

To explain my parents situation, they tried investing in rentals but soon, became the frustrated landlords that you always hear about on the podcast, making all the typical mistakes, to their eventual forbearance of their real estate investing goals.