Basically, the best deals come out of situations where human suffering is at maximum and someone is in a desperate haze to get out of some terrible situation, which makes them unable to take advantage of the regular market.

. :)   Foreign national, currently he does not even have itin, so if he has income, he pays top 34-36% if I recall correctly.Plans, specs, free and clear title, and approved permits shouldn't be an issue, that's what I suggested to him to bring to the table, me and him deal with those regularly, I deal with it weekly.

Something I wish I knew when I was your age is the ability to buy a four-plex with a regular home mortgage (as little as 3.5% down with FHA) if you live in one of the units and rent the other three.

I am also planning to open a cleaning company that cleans my rentals to do some of my own cleaning and charge the company as well write off the cleaning supplies and what not.

Finally, some of the items are available because an agency surplused them and no longer needs them.”But back to regular real estate for sale at auction… A quick look at Auction.com today reveals just under 250 homes, condos, multi-families and lots up for auction now and in the near future, all of which are not bank-owned or in foreclosure.

We have talked to both existing lenders who say that transferring the title will trigger the DOS clause and while I don't expect them to hang out at the county recorder's office or do searches on a regular basis, it does bring into question the whole topic of insurance.

All properties appear nice, clean and tidy, though I have only seen them from the outside. 

I used their deposit to replace all the carpet and have the house professionally cleaned, at first everything was fine, its been about 2 months now, and the new tenet is complaining of  a really strong cat (probably Urine) smell in the master closet, an area we had the carpet replaced. it is a slab foundation, any cheap tricks to get it fixed, I honestly don't know what to do, I would have thought to hire cleaners or replace the carpet, but both have already been done.Thanks in advance for your help,Nick

Match that with a regular high gloss white trim and you're looking good. 

In Houston the "slums" are seeing active construction and increasing government presence (beautification agendas, active city notices to clean up, etc.) as there is a mass movement for "urban living" within these areas 15 min or less to downtown/medical center.