My experience in Rochester NY (I live in SF Bay Area) mirrors Caleb's in many respects other than the fact that I stayed in for about 10 years and at my height owned 6 city duplexes and a few suburban SFR's.Lessons learned from my perspective:(1) Do not discount basic things like weather. 

He told me that it was a good deal because as dual agent and a private sale, seller gets discount on commission and I get discount on selling price at the same time. 

I bit the bullet and paid it after the PM gave a 20% discount.

Unless it's in a horrible area that will require a ton of babysitting, 30 units definitely seems large enough to get some bulk discount.

If I were to buy this home at the discounted rate in the preforeclosure state would the taxes be $14k?

As with most professionals, you get what you pay for and it always makes me nervous when people opt for a cheaper, discount broker.

There are many ways you can recast this deal. first things first, close the deal with attractive seller financing. ask the seller to add settlement cost into the mortgage. consider some of these in your mortgage conditions ( put some or all of these terms in your offer) make sure you understand the value of these clauses - if not, give me a call glad to chat.1. put a subordination clause in the mortgage, this will allow you to get a new first and have the seller financed in second position.2. have a pay-off discount of 5-10% so if you get a new mortgage or sell the house you can discount the seller mortgage, this could save you thousands of dollars.3. have the mortgage secured by another property you own - this will make your property free and clear, now get a new mortgage, keep the proceeds or use it for renovations.4. have a stutter clause, this will allow you to miss one payment a year.5. have a first right of refusal in the mortgage in the event the seller (mortgagee) try to sell the mortgage at a discount, this gives you the option to benefit from the discount.6. the mortgage should be fully assumable without qualification with release of liability. this makes your resale attractive since you have financing built in.7. ask for a delay in making payments (6 months) this will free up some of your cash for renovations. good luck  with it -- Charles

I would add if you have boots on the ground near the property that would charge a reasonable rate to make the repairs after closing, you could negotiate a discount more than the cost of the repairs, giving you more control of how the repairs are done, but either way the items will need to be addressed.

A lot of forum members are experts in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, buy and hold investing, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.There are some pretty nice discounts on many products and services offered as Perks to BP members that you might want to check out: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proIf you haven’t been to it already, the Bigger Pockets blog features links to their fantastic podcast and many great articles: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

The exemptions discount property tax by "exempting" a certain amount of a home's assessed value from taxation. ...