I'd also suggest buy an umbrella insurance that'd cover you for damages beyond what your normal insurance policy could cover.

A broker who does as you described would get a pretty bad rep pretty quickly.If Cam's statement is true she did not make an offer in writing then she can just get her own broker who will right the deal the seller pays the commissions normally. although in ultra hot markets that may not be the case but I suspect things are not that hot in AL  I do a lot of business in AL  and yes there is competition from hedge funds for cash flow homes in some markets but anyone can buy a home especially if its MLS listed its not like this is San Francisco were you get 20 offers on a listing and its an all out bidding war.

Is it a vaulted ceiling, wider hallways than normal, storage space, larger bedrooms, closet, kitchen??

Also forming an LLC will not get you normal conventional financing with a bank. 

Or we do it when our specific conditions don't fall into the "normal" category, we can still propose a design that will work we just have to do more design calculations and "show our work" for the math behind it.The problem becomes not that we can't do it, but that every new item we propose has a level of scrutiny it undergoes before it will be approved.

That was huge wake up call for me.

The investor who's current purchasing it normally bought from a realtor, property off the MLS.

One tip that I picked up here is while you are starting out and saving money for your investments, start driving / visiting areas you would like to invest in so you get a feel for prices, rents , house conditions etc, and visit and look at lots of homes and open houses so your eye get used to looking at repairs / upgrades that are normal in a particular market.

Wow, I have painted counters before just a normal paint then a few coats of poly but it never looks like that.I will be trying this.

Unless there is some historical value or the building is extremely good condition AND the new property is nearby and easily accessible I would say the "play" on this is to push away from the table.On a completely separate note, when I put in the @ mark to tag you, I don't get the normal name list popping up.