I was looking for others to comment on the fact that it is or is not (in their opinion), worthwhile to spend $ on professional services when getting started inorder to prevent costly mistakes, be them legal, financial, or other.

Spend hours on this site reading.

I let the product sit there for an extended time and let the enzymes nuetralize the damage.

BUT, you gave me hope......so now I'm going to spend the next few days researching a bunch of "maybe's" and I'll throw those low offers in and just see what happens.

Are you extending the Ohio market to Huntsville?

Well it didn't even take 30 days for the Federal Reserve to change it's mind on how it was going to spend the 700 Billion dollar bailout.

Just extended the benefits to as long as 53 weeks!!

Wait until all this "bailout" spending really starts to snowball.

., after you verify the rents and the major operating expenses like taxes and insurance, and apply your own experience about the typical costs to maintain and the amount you need to allow for potential vacancy), you decided that these properties are being offered at something closer to a 5% cap rate.Before you spend any more time or effort considering these properties, you know that, at their asking prices, they are not worthy competitors for your investment dollar.

There's nothing decent at any of these western areas (that you'd want to spend a night in) for under about $275K.