No preferred return, no catch up, no split after a certain irr.  

@Bruce M I believe a solo 401K is just simply a 401K through a SD admisistrator, so the limits are the contribution amount of $17K or $22,500 if you are over 50 (due to the $5,500 catch-up).

They were offering to write us a check for their estimate & deal with it on our own or use their approved contractors, and when all was complete, it ran about $20K more than their estimate (structural beam had burned in one area and needed whole beam replaced among other things they didn't catch at first).

You had a good catch with that issue and I delt with three title plants and escow agents.

Need to start at the beginning and reread and also catch all the posts I missed earlier.

I was in there many times in the past, started catching some traction, but then died.

Now I am thinking wonderful whats the catch.

If she wants to stay a perm loan mod might be the best way to go.Lenders start them off with 3 month trial mods and then give permanent mods but take a long time.Perm mods only happen 10% of the time and this seller might not have the mental toughness to stick it through.Another option for her is chapter 13 and possibly "lien stripping" the second.She would not to talk to a BK attorney about that.If she does not want to stay at all then the "short sale" is the option.Make sure the husband doesn't have to sign off on it as they will usually be spiteful just to get back at the former spouse and not respond to request for signatures or financials the lender asks for.As you are a wholesaler though I don't see money in this for you.The bank will want the property listed with an agent for sale to try to get the highest price.The second will want money to go away and the first usually offers 1,000 or just forecloses but might offer more if the foreclosure process is long and costs a bunch of money and values are declining for the area each month.It could get way more complicated then I am describing on these.Sounds like you need to look at other deals.What I am surprised at is how you think there are a bunch of properties with equity sitting around.Many of these people refied during the boom times.They were buying houses and using as atm's as the values went up and up.The lender would go to 120% because the thought was the value would catch up with the loan as the market went up so there was ZERO RISK.We all know the answer to what happened with that thought process.

There is about a 5 to 7 year cycle in RE where prices catch up, with stagnet periods and then swing the other way.

This property is not unique. there are literally hundreds of them around the city of Dayton but the catch is you need to get to know the neighborhoods and make contacts.