I've never heard of demolition as a solution for the problem, but it certainly seems like as much as you can do to a structure.I would find out what it costs for an environmental survey that includes soil testing.

We run a small homestead growing as much of our own organic food as possible,  I also study and teach soil health and fertility as well as regenerative farming practices.  

In addition to terms, we sell a number of properties for cash to keep a healthy bank balance for more acquisitions. 

Simple they might not be healthy enough to take any hit currently.ORThey already have a bunch of product out there.Putting too much out at once could flood the market making their 80,000 REO drop to 50,000.So the banks like to release properties like a water spicket in small little bursts so the dam doesn't break.On the pre-foreclosure residential side there is 2 million loansin some stage of default that will have to be worked out.Whether that's ultimately a permanent loan mod,a DIL,a short sale,or a foreclosure remains to be seen.So there are millions of properties out there.I think where people get confused is what is happening on your local level??

Additionally, we just learned the "hard" way about the expansive soils so prevalent throughout most of SA.Thank you all in advance for taking the time to read my post and consider any advice you may decide to give me.~ K.

I agree that a certain amount of motivation is necessary and healthy but there are allot of pitfalls in real estate and once you fall into a trap you will find it very hard and painful to get out of it if you can at all.

As a new agent, my goal is a sustainable and healthy long-term strategy but I'm also trying to secure as many listings as possible.

I also like the idea of leaving a healthy unused balance in the HELOC to act as a reserve to cover any initial CAP Ex while I'm starting out.

As far as insurance goes, we keep a healthy level of liability protection of each property, and we will be adding umbrella to the LLC as well.  

But, I do think that if I play my cards right, the Pittsburgh market could provide healthy cash flow.Michael Galloway - perhaps I'll expand in another forum, but to be truthful, it was more of a general comment. i.e, I honestly don't know what questions I should have at this point - I'll soon learn what questions I should be asking!