If you can find a deal at about 60% of ARV, meaning the purchase price plus fixup are 60% of the CONSERVATIVE ARV, and you can borrow 70%, you should be able to do the deal with minimal cash.Not sure what you mean by "appraised value".

Why in hell, people had to stand in the dark rainy gate to be checked in?

They may be able to help structure the transaction to minimize taxes.You only pay taxes on the net gain on any deal.

You may want to look at selling some of the payments (vs. the entire note) as this would allow you take advantage of the lower tax rate and minimize your overall discount.

ExampleREO- lists for 32k and needs minimal work.

Not that those people tell lies, but they emphasize and amplify the facts that fits their agenda while disregarding or minimizing the ones that don't.

Present the dark side and bring it back to a profitable level.

So, I might suggest that investors ask the bank to obtain another appraisal and simply pay for it, it might be a shot in the dark, but after a property has sat on the market for a long time, it's not likely it would come in higher than it did in the past.

This is where you have the potential to make money on top of your auction, The fees that certain states/counties charge are minimal (at least the ones I prefer to do business with). 90% of the time I charge 300.00 for closings costs minus ebay fees for selling is 70 bucks, This leaves me with approx 230 dollars for me.

If he's looking for a lump sum of cash, he should structure the note to achieve as minimal a discount as possible.If he's fine with payments, then it should just be amortized fully, whether its 7, 10 or 15 years.Figure out what his needs and wants are; from there you can better piece together an offer and structure for the deal.