I'm asking specifically for central  and northern Virginia but would welcome answers for Maryland and DC as well. 

This was over email so I have not been able to get a satisfactory answer. 

Often the timing of recordation or the date the obligation accrued is paramount.Without jurisdictional info and a title report (including all taxes, judgments, perhaps more), nobody here can give you an answer.

There in lies the answer to your question.To help you focus more, are you investing primarily for cash flow or appreciation.  

Ive done quite a bit of research and have been able to answer ALMOST all of my questions, but I have not been able to locate any South Carolina attorneys familiar with assignment contracts.

In answer to your last post, yes you should see about getting the price down immediately and if they refuse, back out. 

We have been able to do our own taxes, but he was happy to answer a couple questions last year as we were wrapping them up by email.

There are already statutes and regulations regarding fraud and deception in real estate transactions.Educating people who want to be educated is fine, but if a governing body restricts the pool of ready and willing buyers, more properties will go to foreclosure and sit on the market longer.Real estate investors perform a vital function in every jurisdiction: putting properties back on the market, in good condition.Many of the properties they buy could never pass conventional lender's inspection because they typically require tens of thousands of dollars in repairs that most homeowners do not have or cannot do themselves.Additionally, many real estate investors near metropolitan centers can access almost an unlimited pool of funding to buy and remodel properties if the numbers work.From contract to close, the time can be in as little as 3-4 business days.The delay is mostly waiting on title companies.So when flippers mail letters and post cards to owners saying they can "close quick" and "all cash", that is a fact, not fraud.Of course, realtors will recommend you list your property – that's how they make money – so they are self-interested, which makes the report biased.Maybe next time you can have a "flipper" on you show for balanced reporting.The idea of anyone feeling "pressured" by getting a post card or flyer is ludicrous.If the homeowner doesn't want to sell, the solution is to throw them away.But the idea of "there ought to be a law" is equally ludicrous.If there are bad actors committing fraud, the answer is to enforce the laws already on the books.Out of all the properties posted for sale every 1st Tuesday of the month at the trustee's sale, a very large percentage never make it because they are bought by the very flippers you disparaged.If not for the real estate investing community, cities around the country would look much, much worse.My biggest complaint with your report is that you completely failed to get the rest of the story.Your editor needs address this."

And of course, I don't really want to buy on speculation so I suppose the answer to my question is no (but yes).

I basically stopped answering her calls and texts.