I think it's one thing to spend that kind of money on a house that we could buy and over which we'd have control, but another to go into somebody else's deal. 

For example, research supporting why you're focusing on homes in the price range of $100K-180K, why you plan to market your properties through Craigslist, etc. because someone other than yourself may be looking at your plan at some point and they need to know the method to the madness.Good points to research are:- How fast are homes selling in your target price range- What is the median income of the local population- What is the median family size of each household- Where are the best neighborhoods located; best schools- Marketing: how are you going to convert leads into sales?

However, having spent 20-years in banking, I can pretty much guarantee you that you're not going to get any personal information about why someone hasn't paid their mortgage.My recommendation is, rather than spending time trying to figure out what led them to the place they currently find themselves, focus instead on the message that you can help solve their problem.  

I would recommend that you find a good hosting provider, (Godaddy, Hostgator, etc) and spend a day researching how to install a wordpress theme.

Spending about 20K to paint inside and out, add a new range, and stage.

It is beyond me why an Agent would spend the time trying to secure an approval for someone who doesn't have money to close, but I guess that is not the point.  

I have been spending several months reading up on investing and need some clarification on a sticking point.  

You should be able to net $10k with 40 units without working more than 10hrs/wk.My experience has been that every 10 units, if in decent areas and condition, require about 2hrs/wk worth of work.You should buy the first property and see how much time you are spending there every week.

I don't know that you wouldn't be better off buying quads getting 30 year money on them for a good interest rate.The benefit for larger properties 5 + really starts happening in the mid double digits in units for scale.If the broker is spending time with you then you should commit to that broker.

This caused me to have to spend quite a bit of money out of pocket to ‘upgrade’ to those materials.