In case it wasn't clear, I was trying to avoid getting into a bidding war with a bunch of other people over a good house in a great area.

@Tim Chasteen There are numerous factors involved in buying this price point.  

I found BP through the podcasts - I was looking for a highly-rated real estate or investing podcast to listen to while driving, and have enjoyed numerous shows so far.

Also think about the post-war effect on JBLM - shrinking size of military presence.

It does not qualify for 1031 Exchange treatment on numerous levels. 

The only thing you have to worry about is doing cash/out numerous times in year.

They had yet to take the leap and make their first deal for numerous reasons.

However I do get the people that don't want to get them since there are costs associated with it (and if you aren't doing "agent stuff" as a regular part of your business they might be hard to justify, especially if you are starting out and money is tight), I can also see the side of those that think it is a detriment since it isn't uncommon for a seller to be winning to work with an investor after having a bad experience with on of those numerous crappy agents in the past, as in they specifically do not want to work have a Realtor sell their house.I think that last one, along with the stuff about taking on extra liability risk, is very overblown but it isn't just ridiculous blathering either.The way to go is to have an understanding of many different strategies to be an actual problem solver and to also have the resources to perform on a contract if you get into one.  

and if so did you include weasel clauses that would give you the ability to extent your escrow/contract one time with a small extension fee of $50-1000 paid at the time of the extension into escrow account without going back for seller approval, remember to safeguard your earnest money investment with good verbiage in your purchase, wholesale contracts, they are truly money savers again........hope that helps you it helped me on numerous occasion in the past..........

@Joe Villeneuve low inventory in Boston, price sky rocket, bidding war.