My question: I’m planning to go with a value add approach to 5-12 unit apartments in Kansas City area.

Home sellers have the upper hand in this market, I believe your best approach is to consistently put in offers and see if one lands.

I was trying to avoid the cost of hard money if at all possible so they may go for this approach?  

Such a saturated market, sellers (and now auctioneers) can ask anything and get it.My only way to pursue this is to approach the owner directly, if they can be found, and make a simple low cash offer to make their headache go away.  

As I approached the apartment I could see, she was not joking, it was gallons pouring down, gallons, and it's RED!

There are pros to cons to that approach, but just trying to get your creative juices flowing...Does that help?

I'm writing to ask about best practices or common approaches to accounting for property taxes.Here the tax bill comes out in November of each year.

Thoughts on my approach!

Not nearly as profitable as other investments I’ve leveraged like college rentals or anything like the kind of automatic appreciation that Boston metro has seen over the last few years, but a fun, different approach to the market, so long as you don’t fall too far down the arbitrage hole.

Yes you can approach the school about your idea to see if they are interested in leasing the property from you.