Also, you are able to move property in and out of LLCs without any tax consequences, generally, which is not always true for corporations.You will want to consult with a CPA and an attorney before you begin working with your friend. 

Would you investors even waste your time with such a discounted offer or is that just part of the numbers game?

Very true Marshall.

And with a good tenant buyer that is willing to pay in a little extra per month toward the down payment, you can get them to work... and ultimately collect your profit on the backend, or on the second and third lease option tenants if that plays out.The clear advantage of going this way is... if you dont find a "GOOD" lease option buyer, you are not obligated to the sellers... just let the bank take it like they were going to anyway.Pre-foreclosure lists are easy to find, and because getting a short sale completed is a numbers game there are often many sellers in that niche that could not get the short sale done, and are going to walk... you can cut your teeth on those until you get your system fine tuned.On a side note... the other way to go is to get a mailing list of absentee owners from your county tax rolls, or realquest.com.

unfortunately this is true.

A short sale is only one of six loss mitigation options, and playing the pre-foreclosure game successfully requires a working understanding of the other five.

The combination of a marketing expert Richard Roop and a negotiations/sales expert Dan Doran, and inner game expert Willie Hooks make their products/bootcamps/coaching the best.They offer tons of free materials that give lots of value content Warning, if you get their free information you willl see how much you can optimize your business and how much more profits you could be making.Disclosure: I am an affiliate of theirs.

Here's how that game typically went The "Investor" who had a 680 or better credit score qualified for 100% financing Stated income/ Stated Assets or No Ratio and for a brief time No DOC ( No verfication of income occurred with any of these programs.

Appreciation is not a US game right now.

Great Advice I think that very true, because something I look at goals and want to put them off for later, I ll let the people at my rei club know my situation.