The rest of the time someone does pay more and maybe they are willing to work for less, did a poor job evaluating, do see some value add I did not and it is truly worth more to them or maybe I just was not the right buyer for the place and someone else (maybe an owner occupant) just was okay with a higher price regardless of the numbers.So what about everyone here?  

A discussion among people who do it successfully can perhaps address how they evaluate and address some of those issues.

Welcome to BP @Kenneth Ashby Get educated on the businessLearn how to evaluate dealsLook at lots of deals to learn you market

They will keep you from making a bad decision...Hml will evaluate the property itself and make the call as to its value which will be very valuable to you starting out.

@Cody Honea,      Thats a good way to evaluate someones worth when they are self-employed, I'm surprised regular mortgage people are not willing to look at things logically like that.

There is not enough information here for me to evaluate the deal but I hope you have more details off line or ask the seller for it.First is location, is it A, B, C, D neighborhoods?

Those are just easy go-to methods to help evaluate a potential deal quickly.  

Then I'll ask the seller for all the update logs they have for the roof, siding, wiring, and plumbing.

So, if you have a full time job (2080 hours a years), the threshold becomes 2081 hours a year.My general advice is to find a good accountant (CPA or enrolled agent) who's knowledgable about real estate and evaluate your situation and advises you on how to organize your finances BEFORE you start investing in real estate. 

@Percy N. typically CPAs will not provide fraud evaluation services unless they specialize in forensic accounting.