The deal is favorable to him b/c he cannot get conventional financing right now due to being in the middle of a short sale or maybe even a Deed in Lieu if he cannot find a buyer.

The offer: I submitted a favorable to me offer because the owner seemed desperate to sell.

If you find a great broker/agent they can find you the deals.If you have a lazy broker/agent they can cost you and make you lose out on deals.BIGGEST MISTAKE you can make in my opinion is buying in the wrong area and paying too much going in for a property.Especially starting out you need that capital to perform and grow at maximum potential to take advantage of low interest rates and favorable market pricing.If you buy right you have a jumping off platform for other properties.If you buy wrong you have a mistake they can stifle your investing for years.If you think competition is bad now wait in a few years when all the news channels say real estate is on the rise again causing a run up in pricing.

Basically, prices dropped about $50-70k in the neighborhoods that used to be very much in favor (Shamrock, Toney Valley, East Lake Terrace, White Oak, to name a few Decatur neighborhoods that got rocked)... that collapse pretty much turned endemic through most of Atlanta.

It seems the situation is stacked in your favor so I would also keep that in mind.

Favorable terms are yet another way you can make money on a property and I’d encourage you to spend as much time as possible on this document as well.Jeff

The "rule" making O/O buyers more favored than investors has to do with HUD policy.

I would favor a tenant with 4X and other negatives over one with 3X and a shinier file though.

My only thought is why not deploy this approach on a piece of properties with a more favorable exit strategy?

Receiving an offer for your property and having it backed up by a favorable appraisal is a function of your flipping business model.