I was in Minneapolis last year and couldn't believe how cheap housing is, prepare for a shock when you enter San Diego!

I am always shocked by the abysmal quality of many real estate photos and the unsanitary conditions of some the homes depicted.A staged property will delight buyers from the very first showing.

I even went back and checked the documents I signed and the only mention I can find is from the preliminary commitment that says something to the affect of "the appraisal must meet our standards".I at the very least want my money back for the appraisal they didn't use but I really feel like I'm entitled to everything I spent up to this point because THEY are the ones that killed the deal.

Shocked that this was not normal and that everyone in the world was not already doing this I bought my second home, a very rough single family home. 

Was shocked when I looked the other day and ONLY 3 PROPERTIES were under 300k.

The property needs work with a preliminary rehab cost of 140k.

W T FI was shocked and incensed.

., First Western Federal and First National Bank) and settle on the terms.Make an offer to the Seller.Have a third party (an attorney or Title Company) draw up the real estate purchase documents.Confirm the third-party understands that your are making the purchase through your Solo 401k and as such the Solo 401k will be listed as the purchaser/buyer.You as trustee of your Solo 401k will safe keep the following forms and documents in connection with the purchase:copy of the Purchase Contractcopy of the Settlement Agreementcopy of the Escrow Instructionscopy of the preliminary (un-recorded) Deedcopy of the loan documents (if your Solo 401k is getting a non-recourse loan)You as trustee of you Solo 401k will sign and forward the documents to the escrow agent and write a check from its checking account for the purchase.

A lot of what @Joel Owens said is very valuable, especially about the engineer and architect putting some preliminary plans together.

I have used the same back Santander for duration of my house flipping career with the hopes that could one day pull a loan from them well today I got a shock when I tried to pull a home equity loan/line of credit on my lastest project I chose to keep, I was declined the loan because they don't consider my income sustainable even tho I have a collateral to protect the loan.