I will not be bringing in sewer or water so only the two utilities.

You will have to support that building out of your own pocket while you are renovating and while you are finding tenants to fill it.I suggest that you do not pay utilities, so if utilities are not separated, figure the cost of doing so into your expenses before you decide what you want to offer.You should be able to get a close estimate of taxes from the assessor's office-- taxes will go up when you purchase, but taxes are usually a % of assessed value, so not hard to figure.I suggest you check with the local fire marshall to see if the building needs to be brought up to code.

This time I scared the deadbeats into deediing it back, saving me $1200 or so in attorney fees, and got a $2000 insurance settlement check from them for some damage caused by "vandals"-probably their tenants as these guys were, unknown to me, trying to be landlords without having a clue what they were doing.Anyway I've been working on it for 3 weeks, on thier utilities and insurance and now have a contract for $100K.

I would also utilize some of the great tech tools that are out there, especially virtual flyers and vids syndicated through youtube, yahoo, truveo etc.

., price + rehab = 70% of ARV), they certainly won't make anywhere near $80K profit.Assume they get a hard money loan for the $140K and hold for six months.They pay purchase closing costs around $2500.They pay the $20K for rehab.They pay about 10% of the loan in money costs, $14KThey pay insurance, utilities, and whatever else in holding costs, $3K (try pricing a vacant house or builders risk policy.)

If you think you might be interested in purchasing the property you can establish a sales price today and exercise the option (follow through with the purchase portion of the contract) anytime within the option term.

Harrison:The only other option I can think of (well...not the only one (lol) is to utilize private/commercial lender.

Do you just stay away and try to buy where you have established buyers?

-vacancy rate-maintenance-utilities-property mgt-other-property tax-insurance

Having little or no equity or upside down cash flow is not a good business prectice when utilizing this strategy.