Can you give me some advice on finding a good area and assessing a property to invest in.

Mark Ferguson I appreciate that feed back on ARV my number is actually 11500 less than the average I took from 5 comps and the tax assessment (I know tax has nothing to do with value) end buyers (financed) for some reason look at the number pretty hard in the area the property is located!

All businesses have to assess whether they OK with being beholden to the bank or not.

My tax rate is about 1.3% of assessed value.  

I went to assess the repair cost estimates to get an idea of the improvements and work needed to wholesale to a Rehabber, or if it makes sense enough to hold and rehab then retail in 90 days.The supporting comps show the ARV is $568,000; starting bid is $289,000Option #1Rehab to investor costs:ARV $568,769.00-NIP (net investor profit @ 20%) $113,753.80-RCE (repair cost estimate) $40,000.00-RE Agent @ 3% $34,126.14-Holding Costs @ 4% $22,750.76-Closing costs @ 1.5% $17,063.07-My Assignment fee $ 5k-10,000Maximum Allowable offer = $351,669.84 - $356,669.84Profit $5,000-$10,000OrOption #2Purchase and rehab myself w/ 20% margin = $113,753.80 estimated profitw/ 15% margin= $85,315.35 estimated profitThe property may be bid up beyond my Maximum Allowable Offer, but I'm getting out there to make it happen.Part of me says wait for the next opportunity as this is not enough time.What would you suggest?   

I just want to make sure when doing my due diligent for each property I get all the correct information as well as being able to properly assess the property value and rehab costs.

I also know the lower bid that the seller was willing to offer his neighbor which was the tax assessed value.

I have also read many threads regarding most who can assess what a property may cost to rehab within minutes of viewing it. 

It is mostly single family homes with some larger apartment complexes.Duplex home2, 3-br, 1 bath, apartmentsasking: 149,900current rent: 2100/month (one renter has a lease until 4/15, the other is month to month)taxes: 6100 annually (last assessed last year)gas and electric paid by renterswater, lawncare, snow removal covered by landlordwe are not planning to hire a maintenance company.Planning to put 20% down.I've run a bunch of numbers already, but it's difficult without a lot of hard data.Thanks in advance for any input you can give!

Yea I can use the tax assessment pages fairly easily.