It sounds like in California, no you cannot get records of people who have had their water turned off unless you can convince "..the utility... that the public interest in disclosure (of these records) clearly outweighs the public interest in nondisclosure.”The paragraphs below are from here https://firstamendmentcoalitio...Unfortunately, there is a specific exemption under the California Public Records Act that exempts from disclosure “the name, credit history, utility usage data, home address, or telephone number of utility customers to local agencies,” though it goes on to state that such information may be made released “[u]pon determination by the local agency that the public interest in disclosure of the information clearly outweighs the public interest in nondisclosure.”

People buy or with agents that they trust and/or like.

I think these are the biggest risks I am facing since there are powerlines in the proximity. 5. / 6. / 7.

I'm still curious about people working together with the next highest bidder (presumably one with discount) winning.I appreciate your insight, I've read several of your posts and bookmarked your site in my research on investing here in Detroit! 

If I'm one of the first people looking at it or if I have a direct line to the seller, I might try to get an idea of the price range before I go.

People do it both ways, it depends on your risk tolerance and how much equity you have to work with.

Great real estate investing community here in Austin - lots of good people, meetups etc

My hope is that the clientele we bring in won't completely trash the place but I realize that is just wishful thinking and that people, regardless of income/ what they are willing to pay, can behave like animals (I was in the auto industry before becoming an attorney and the things I saw walking trades will forever haunt me). 

People who dont understand the cost of stuff will always run into people who have zero issue exploiting it.

It's hard to hand off work or certain tasks because it's hard to trust others, but most times you can find help from people that are better than you and more efficient.