We must have had a "how to buy houses and flip them" speaker in town recently. Most Realtor can always tell because of the calls or e mails we got from prospective buyers. All want to know any legal problems with the property, not something normally asked at first contact, (If your looking for foreclosures they will be sold as foreclosures it’s the law) and why is the owner selling. We by law are not allowed to tell you unless the owner gives us permission to do so in writing. Then comes the kicker, "we have not formed a relationship with a Realtor yet and are looking to do so, read we want you to cut the commission so we get the property cheap and dangle the carrot of we will sell it with you once we have fixed it up (maybe but we are probably going to try and sell it our selves first).

My question is if this works so well why are these seminar speakers telling you, if you believe it’s because it worked so well for them they just have to share it with you (probably free for the first time then they will charge you for more information and guidance) then I have a solid property in a swamp that you might want to look at. Go and find a Realtor first and then use there expertise to find good properties that can be renovated and re sold. Most properties like this are snapped up in days, normally before you can find them your self.  There are always properties that you can do up but be very careful in the market right now because you could loose money really fast or get stuck with a house that you have spent more than its worth.