One was a normal sale, and we put on offer on it that was accepted.

The only caution I would say is not on the insurance side but on the sales side, if I walked up to a property and saw a bunch of patches on a roof it would be a red flag to me.  

Also can work for a fixer where you can JV with the seller on a sales split of some kind after fixing it up.

The equity buffer is the lenders guarantee that if all else fails, the property could be quickly sold at a fire sale price and you would still get back your original loan amount plus any associated selling expenses .  

I recently found a home for sale by owner, it's ARV is around $200,000-$225,000.

I get all the above responses...re appraisals and what goes into them...I guess I was asking from the perspective of how accurate is the sales data as it relates to actual sales that they show?  

We can use end buyers funds to fund the transaction, as long as it's not a short sale and the end buyer is using cash or hard money.

I found a great property that is for sale on a auction.

Some banks like them, some won't touch them.Another thing to watch out for is that if you appraise within the 6 month window the appraiser may use the sale of the beat up house as a comp!

Perhaps in this case the percentage that the Realtor collects for the sale of the home might need to be increased?