I know if I were selling my house I would want to see an official contract as in, computer generated.

So I guess that my plan is to put bids on properties as if I'm going to hold them to the river (i.e. make sure that they're positive cash flow after paying everybody that needs paying / generate sufficient IRRs), but to the extent that I can, I'd like to flip them for a quick profit.

You want to find the ones that are, for some reason or another, desperate to sell.Once you get a good lead, you meet with them and figure out their situation.

Me: I study the real estate, and no, i don't market. maybe i should clarify that position. by "not marketing," i mean that i don't spend the majority of my work hours running ads and recruiting. i tell a few people here and there, i've run a couple of ads (i don't anymore, it wasn't for me and it takes too much of my time), but if i generate extra income from that, then good for me.if someone asks how i know what i do, i tell them. if they follow my path and join, then i make money there. then i take that money, and apply it to more real estate. it works out pretty nicely when you think about it.

She has been working in the foreclosure realm for many years, her agency gets a lot of the distress property listings in the area, and she has expressed willingness to slip me leads before they hit the public realm.

With that kind of cash you could easily afford to buy into a REIT, or some other profit generating real estate investment, however with that said there is some risk there, you may loose that money.

I'm looking for something that is going to generate more than 1% response typical for direct mail.

Will talked about the lifestyle he wants to lead and if you don't have money, you can't lead a lifestyle of freedom.The money is what allows you to "fire your boss" and live life on your own terms.

If you work your leads in stages, then you would have all of your leads that need a 2nd mailing all in the same area/folder.

I guess the question this leads to is: in an area like this, is the primary way to offset higher property taxes simply paying less for a property?