At least the good news if you do that is that the extra money out of your pocket goes straight into your own equity, so it's not money lost.

Lawn maintenance costs you can cut down on?

Don't try to take short cuts 

@JJ Chojnowski The rational is Fire hazard as far as I have understood it.I'll probably just call a metal scrapper if I can have him come cut it and take it away.

I think most post cards go straight in the trash, but a hand written envelope is usually at least opened.

With rates the way they are, i would explore a straight up purchase at this point - as long as the property cash flows/meets debt service, there are very attractive options out there - that could be as little as 15% down.   

That will give you a picture of which markets to dive deeper on and which to cut out because the ship has already sailed. 

If I buy 5-10 row homes is there a decent market for portfolio buys whether straight up or at auction?

Might be trying to scare you off in hopes he can get a buddy of his the property and he takes a cut from both sides.

-if prices do not rebound we will need a plan beyond that and it will not be pretty-this can and will hit the rental market in a variety of ways and here are a few potential issues i see.1. higher end rentals could see prices drop or vacancies increase as this type of downturn could hit middle to upper income families that have not budgeted or who see their jobs or incomes decrease as companies tighten their belts and cut salaries or even lay off more folks.2. low income rentals would see more evictions and more late rent payments and potentially small decreases in price - while many of the low income families in town do not work for the oil and gas industry they do often work in service industries that are frequented by oil and gas folks or depend on programs that are subsidized by oil and gas money in our state budget. 3. property prices and values - prices are being driven up on investment properties mostly by out of state investors as there are very few areas where you can get a "decent" property for under 100k and we are still one of them.