Now most of them use www.erentpayment.com, much easier for me to track although it takes about 3 days before the money is transferred to my account.

Then he can foreclose upon you and you can also have a forgivable caveat on the mortgage.I have done dozens of JV's/OP's and mortgages are just so much easier as they leave your investor secured, attached to title with everything laid out and clear.

Copper thieves are looking for vacant residences as easy targets.

This is just a hunch, but i think they had a big board meeting when they were nearing there target reserve levels to initiate release and it went: "well boys n girls, we will have the reserves built next week to start dumping these reo's, but know what, our lobbiests rocked and got us all the money we could ever need, and I'm loving these reserve numbers, screw it, lets invest these reserves and make MORE, and just trickle those reo's out until values make it worth our while to dump em" "but sir, what if these decaying assets start costing us, in Michigan we have to tear them down?"

So there is downward pressure on manager fees and lockout periods and upward pressure on return targets.

I've bought shorts vacant, tenant occupied and owner occupied.It can be hard in my area too...I wonder if the townhouse has monthly fees that could cut into the cash flow, and to what extent those fees cover maintenance of the exterior...On the plus side, since it's an end unit, maybe it would be easier to rent?

but the only way to do that is with great marketing.My next wholesaling check should be coming in a few days and i'm thinking of spending about $1500 bucks on marketing.I'm looking @ buying some leads from CoreLogic that will allow me to target divorcees and absentee owners.

STOP...there are much easier ways to do this.

It is much easier to lose money quickly than to make money quickly and people trying to make money too fast usually end up doing the former.

That might make it easier for you to fully take over the house when you're ready to "buy".