As an alternate perspective...The last two properties I've purchased have been held up for more than a month due to the fact that the seller (FNMA for one and GMAC for the other) hadn't yet filed the foreclosure deed at the time they signed a contract with me.

Not sure what you're currently doing with the cash you have sitting around, but I would imagine it's not returning nearly as much.So, from a purely financial perspective, if you have the free time, it seems like a no-brained...

The best defense against this is to not disclose that that's what you're doing, at least not until they are emotionally attached to the property.If you have to, why not get an agent to sell your houses for you, so you don't even need to be there during the showings (from a selling perspective, it's probably better if you're not there during showings, btw).

Scott, I'm not sure if you're still looking for answers, but I can offer some perspective to you, hopefully.I don't feel that there's any reason not to include equity, that just shows how strong of a deal you have.

The competition is fierce right now because quality inventory is in short supply and there are new foreign group out there that are willing to forgo the 70% rule and pay more for the property and work on a volume perspective.

From my perspective, with you being new to wholesaling you should refer out any short sale leads to someone with the experience to get them done.

I'm interested in these REO-related transactions too, but from the perspective of buying (or owning) REOs with little to no down.

Of course like I mentioned before, there is that pesky double excise tax as the downfall to this.Option 2 is great from a transfer tax perspective because you will only pay it once.

Most importantly, your deal you only made $600 on would not have been a deal you could have wholesaled as there was no profit in it from an experienced rehab investor perspective, you just did not know that at the time.Point is, if any individual has the determination, the abilty to put together a team, to learn, and the drive to succeed, they can do it starting out with wholesaling, with rehab flipping, or with anything they put their mind to.

If my maximum bid got rejected, I was simply going to walk away & move on to the next deal.Obviously, I am thinking from an investor perspective and not simply a homebuyer.OP..you pose an excellent question when you asked...Is there any way to find out if they really have another offer?