:In PA, and in other states, auctions can mean different things.There are private auctions where I just choose to sell my home in an auction scenario (I actually think this is pretty common in Australia - maybe someone from Oz and chime in on that).Auctions can also refer to the compelled or forced sale of a property by the State/County for various reasons.I assume you are asking about the 2 most common forced sales - foreclosures (failure to pay your mortgage, bank sues and the Sherriff sells your home to satisfy the bank) and tax sales (failure to pay your taxes and the State/County sells your home to satisfy your tax bill).I have not participated in the PA foreclosure and tax sale business in 20 years, so things may have changed, but if someone here is more up to date maybe they can correct my answer with new info.Both types of sales have their own areas of risk that you need to educate yourself on.Value is a top issue - you need to know how much the home is really worth before you get into any of the below. 

However, it also depends what exactly those expenses are, e.g. unnecessary payroll would be something you should be able to correct (and if you lower it, you increase the value of the Facility); high flood insurance or excessive property taxes are what they are and typically cannot be reduced, very well throwing off the "industry standard".Typically we recommend buying a Facility as it is currently performing (past 12 months) and use a pro forma only for where you can realistically take it. 

Assuming this is correct, my question is where to I put all of the carrying costs (mortgage interest, taxes, insurance, utilities) as ecoenses in the LLC?

I don't know if I am asking this correctly, though.    

@Thomas Cottrell, you are correct about pros and cons of out of state investing. 

Okay, so you confirmed with the legal hotline that you can represent youself and do not need to be associated with a broker as long as you represent only yourself, correct.

Sorry I tried to correct the topic, not sure how 😒

If the masonry is too ugly, then paint the brick with the correct preparation and quality paint.

I think I got this correct so far. 

If you are looking to buy 50K houses, that doesn't exist in your state, but those investments tend to be risky and best suited for experienced, local operators.Hi Brian,I wouldn't necessarily agree that due to a population decline in a state or city that's it's not a good investment.The micro economics paint a different picture than what can be found out online via research.There are areas in my market that are booming with sales and rentals flying of the shelf even tho the broad market is showing a decline in population.I think that majority of the markets in the Midwest are showing a decline on population anyway lolSomething that I have preached to investors for years now is that finding the right team to work with is more important than focusing on just the online stats/demographics.You are correct tho regarding turnkey outfits.Most are very shady and do oversell properties.Something that isn't a deal breaker as long as the property management is solid.In most cases it isn't so that kills the deal completely.Just my opinion.Thanks