I've never done it before but for a starting point figure out what the investor's minimum rate of return (how it compares to a bank, CD, or stocks).

If anything, this will allow you to compare your mortgage person to his/her.

This allows you to compare to other investments.  

The key is to get them at a discount compared to a single family home to cover the expense and hassle of dealing with the hoa.

What you will likely want to do is compare comps and decide if it's worth actually buying.Assuming you will buy it because you've lived in there without knowing what the price per square foot will be is a bad assumption.

The GC seems confident that gutting the place and replacing the roof asap would immediately help problem & then obviously treat with chemicals etc.. its just hard to know 

Short of making 100 calls, are there any tools anyone can point me to that compare HML rates?

These are my numbers:  Letters .13 Stamps .49 Envelopes .17 On average of 2 hours = 17 leads .25 tank of gas and 30 miles = .56 *numbers based on V8 truck, gas and depreciationtotal of $1.35 per lead and 4 hours spent my conversion rate is 1 buyCan someone share their numbers so I can compare. 

As far as buying the white elephant on the block...yes it is the biggest house on this block BUT if you cross over and go to the other side of MLK you will find homes very comparable in size. 

Mine are minor compared to some I read on.