I have spoken with one contractor on the phone who really put me in my place about 9 units (around 8100 sq ft total) probably costing $200K to rehab "correctly" (obviously he is not on my short list).

Obviously this will negatively cash flow but do I have anything to look forward to or is selling on this property something to consider in the future

So on this basis it looks like a 'flip' is the most obvious means of starting out.

I've been entertaining this idea recently of approaching for-sale-by-owner properties and offering ~10% more than their asking price (assuming it was a good deal from the get-go), but then offering nothing down or say 5% to eliminate the sellers risk,Obviously I know many sellers won't be open to this or like this but I believe some would, I wanted to get your guys' feedback on this, is anyone doing this or has anyone does this?

Obviously the seller is out of touch with the market.

There are obviously fewer folks looking this time of year, especially in Mt.

I obviously need to learn quite a bit before I make my first move, but hope to get on a good path from this great community.

The other issue to consider is obviously the deferred maintenance.

As for David and Goliath, obviously he didn't understand the story!

The accounting approach is taking the lower of cost or market value, so at this point you're establishing your actual cost.So long as your land value is reasonable and can be justified through acceptable accounting practices the IRS usually accepts the value, unless there are really big bucks involved.Ask you tax advisor, I'm an accountant type but I don't do taxes.Had you stated the value in the contract, that would have been the agreed price unless you were obviously trying to pull something, like saying you bought a 100K lot for 10K.