I would also shy away from doing things that require massaging information to a lender.You mentioned that she owns the property outright.

Most likely I will go in and fill the holes, peal off de-laminated areas and fill them too, with an acrylic base wood filler.

It varies state by state on what level a real estate broker/agent can help a seller with a short sale on the residential side.In some states brokers/agents simply submit a contract and attorneys for the parties do the rest.In some states brokers/agents can help with workout options but in other states they must hold a mortgage license.There is also Federal requirements and disclosures brokers/agents must use when listing a short sale.The government calls it "the short sale streamline process".I call it a bunch of red tape that isn't needed which creates more government oversight and bloat wasting our tax dollars.Depending on loan type if the property is FHA then they can only accept a certain amount off of appraisal.A few years back it was easier to massage the bpo using different strategies to get close to your purchase number.Today more banks are using agents with experience doing bpo's and also the banks have controls in place to almost eliminate any manipulation by investor purchasers on value.Another point is if your area is declining by 1 percent a month and it takes 3 months for an approval by the time you close you have lost 3% in value.How you approach a short sale and an acceptable number will depend on what you are doing with the property.Margins and hold times are different for assigning,flipping,and rentals.

They virtually disappeared for a couple of years, there's a lot of cash, money is cheap and good deals are not as frequent as banks are controlling (managing) their inventories to massage their books over several quarters...

You can make any investment look good if you massage the numbers enough... and if I were you I'd steer clear of that property and find another realtor.

Don't massage the numbers to fit a desired outcome.

I spent hundreds of hours talking to lenders so do not waste your time with the sales person you need to talk to an underwriter.You need also to be able to massage these deals through the due diligence periods.

The tenant had a couple of items hooked up to a power strip (back massage + laptop) and came home to a fire inside the bedroom where it started.

Last time I checked NAR didn't invent that and every corporation in America massages data for their benefit.No matter which argument you make one thing rings true.The BOTTOM LINE is FSBO has been around forever.

Dropping in a form fitting acrylic shell sounds like it would fit the bill nicely.Any advice?