recessed small spots, but many of them.  

When I find a willing client I write a contract to buy the property on the spot, the agreement says the seller must cooperate with my short sale agent. 

Spot on and sage advice.  

So how do you spot bogus lenders on social sites?

@Rob Cee  from a non builder private passive investor construction loans are the most risky one could do... the risk is builder fails in the middle or ( like a builder I know ) built a home 3 inchs out of plumb.. caught at framing stage only way to fix was to tear it all down and redo it.he chose to finish it... and it looks like it should be at the Mystery spot.. doors crooked etc. house value to some one but steep discount.Liens  like here in Oregon properly filed mechanics liens are super liens...

, a couple of red bricks are cracking on the front steps, some stumps in the front yard need to be removed from where they fell over from storms, HVAC unit is very old and needs replaced, and retaining wall around back of home has a couple of spots where it is cracking/eroding at the bottom.The questions I have are what are the next steps that I need to take to get financing/start the process of rehabbing the home?  

hi zion. let me give you a quick education on how you can do this. first, let me say that doing it yourself is not a great idea. yes, you can learn how to do a pretty good job, but the experts are the experts, thats why you pay them. that being said, here is a basic education. go to the record of deeds office or county clerk or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods. sit down on a computer and plug in the address. look for anything and everything to do with that house. look for liens especially. after you find any open liens for the last, lets say 50 years, look forward for lien releases for each and every lien. if you find the releases, then those loans/ liens are finished and will not be a problem, unless something stupid comes up on them where someone signed in the wrong spot or the date is wrong or something like that. anytime someone places a lien on a house, be it a mechanics lien or loan or back taxes, they have to file paperwork with the county to do so. it will be recorded. anything that is open and has not had a release of lien, is still a valid claim against that house. simply put, the complications involved here, especially if you have never done this before, is exactly why you pay an expert to do it for you. good luck

If that's the case then you may not want to live in a marginal spot. 

No, your advice is spot on; what I was kind of figuring.  

@Trey Watson was spot on - Pat loves to talk a lot, but he knows his stuff.