You could also be cited and ordered to appear in court.These guys love to roll around town and camp out across the street with cameras to film your jobsite activities to look for violations.  

So I'm thinking of using a hard money lender and I figured out the following: If I purchase a home for $100,000 (just for round numbers) I'd have to sell this home for approximately $147,000 in order to make a profit, pre-tax of $10,000.Now I'm assuming the following: 5 months from purchase to sale$100,000 purchase price$15,000 rehab costs$3,990 points$5,400 monthly interest-only payments$6,500 approximate closing costs on both ends of the transactionThis comes out to $130,890 but I'm assuming I would have commissions to pay as well.Please tell me where I'm going wrong, if I am.

I have had a few sellers who are open and interested in lease options ask me to complete their rental application and credit check, and when I tell them that I will not be the one renting and I don't fill out applications and credit checks but I will provide a well qualified and pre-screened tenant buyer for their property, the seller then doesn't want to continue the deal.

for Pre Purchase Inspections and possible work for rehabbing and flipping. 

Once you and the seller are in the same ballpark, you'll need to dig into his expenses, rent roll, contract services, property condition evaluation, etc.Best of luck and much success!

Would like to start out my investing career with some flips the get things rolling and to make some returns quickly and then ultimately get into rental units, starting with smaller multifamily houses and eventually larger apartment complexes.

It'll get the ball rolling.

Bill,With a REO (as with almost all listed properties) you'll have to show proof of funds if it's an all cash offer, or a pre-approval letter from a lender if you intend to use financing. 

I have been staring at Zillow all day looking for something that doesn't seem to exist as far as a moderately priced multi/single starter property in good shape(heh), have spoken with a couple lenders for pre-approval and had agents circling my house waiting for me to come outside.....hehe.I decided to take a look at a property tomorrow(single family) but nothing serious yet being as I am very new to this.

Let's get things rolling!!