So, even if you bought it at the asking price without trying to barter, and put 10% down, a 15-yr mortgage on the remaining 38,250 at 8% (a bad rate as I understand; I am purposefully trying to assess this as a 'worst case scenario' to make sure it is profitable even if the loan doesn't come out as well as planned)That means payments are 365.54/month + 149.42 taxes + I have no idea how much for insurance.

So would it be a bad idea to start building a buyers list ?

The properties i was looking at didn't work out - - thanks mostly to this forum and the help they gave me on number-crunching - - you all saved me from making a bad purchase.I'm still looking though....

Here in Ca. the buyer side is greater than the seller side right now because the market is so bad.

If the major "city" has a bad neighborhood, I look for a smaller satellite city within an hour's drive or two.

To bad, I already knew most of the strategies in the course.

I am a little skeptical of bird-dogging being that I've heard a lot of bad stories from bird dogs not getting paid

Not bad, but this will identify only MLS listed property sales, not private sales (e.g. wholesale deals) and not FSBO quick sales.

I don't see why they would include that, other than not wanting any delays due to the financing or a bad appraisal.Do you know the title company who's doing the closing?

Not saying reading books on real estate is a bad idea, its definitely a great idea & can teach you a lot, but you need to put that information and advice into action.Good luck!