My partner brings to the table his expertise and does the work ( finding the best deals, purchasing the property, overseeing reno's, lease agreements with renters, collecting rent, paying the insurance, property tax etc), he does all the baby sitting associated with the rental property.I'm act as "the bank".

(And if it were me I'd think $500 was a really bad return on my time and expertise.) 

Illinois does not allow reserve bids on foreclosure auctions, they're pure auctions in my state, which is why I gave the answer I gave.I think you're probably better qualified to comment on NY/NJ's situation than I am, because my expertise extends to judicial foreclosure states and not to non-judicial states. 

@Joshua FassA lot depends on where your expertise is, specifically whether you have experience dealing with SFH or MFH.

Would LOVE any advice from the extensive wisdom and expertise of the bigger pockets community.  

I am new to Bigger Pockets but have plenty of expertise in Detroit, especially multi-family.

So I draw up an estimate clearly stating "REPAIRS FOR VISIBLE DAMAGE ONLY" After approval the twp wants the soffit removed and architect opinion.

Look and see what is visible about homes near by.

Ok you know I am an old dog.. and of course you know I close everything I contract for.. so not going to get into the assignment BS.but here is what I did in the early 90s when I was in the Timber business.I created my own data base.. we went into each court house compared Arial photogs to plat maps and created a data base of every owner of 10 acres of more with visible timber. this took almost 2 years to go from the CA OR border to just south of Seattle from the coast range to the cascades probably an area twice as large as Georgia.at the end of the day we had a very targeted list..

I would go with red or yellow for high visibility.