However, they wouldn't get to double end the deal if they did that...Most likely, in this instance, you were just outbid. 

For instance, if you need to paint exterior, replace floors. . . 

I do not agree with cheap = old and higher maintenance.For instance, I buy homes in C class neighborhoods, fix, and rent them.

For instance, probate in foreclosure means there's pressure from a finite timeline.

For instance I see you are close to Seattle.

You get a big surprise when you attempt to turn on the water, for instance.

In some instances with homes that need a lot of work we get our rehab team in there.

I tend to have grand visions, and I suppose my time will come someday, but I just get so impatient when I see big developers come in and do something I had thought would be a good investment a couple years prior.For instance, there is an old warehouse the city has been trying to sell for quite some time and theyve been trying to promote it as a business headquarters like it used to be...however I thought over the past couple years it would be better as apartments and lofts with ammenities that appeal to younger professionals.  

Car and Driver is a magazine about cars, it doesn't teach how fix cars or how to drive them.

As they say, to each their own, but I do think this is a slow movement that is perhaps somewhat reversing the "flight" from decades ago in some instances.