I normally bank with DCU but they will only go up to 80% combined ltv

depends on the market... some markets were your dealing in low value assets .. then wholesalers are pretty much your go to folks as agents don't want to work neighborhoods that are that dangerous or values so low.in higher value areas.. wholesalers from what I see will normally take all the meat out of the deals.. and or simply are new and don't understand how to value a property and certainly have no clue as to what rehab costs.. so its a time suck generally speaking.

Is it normal to have the water bill and the HOA on a single account that the HOA management company uses for accounting purposes?  

Optimize for the best deal on the finance side for sure.The trick is that convention loans will normally not be approved if the property cannot be occupied & insured.

Many things play into the national economy and global economy, real estate being one slice of a very big pie. 

@Steve Vaughan Interesting strategy of purchasing the LLC vs. normal transaction to save on closing! 

Normally I have taped it to the door, but this time, due to heavy rains in the area, I placed it inside of their mailbox which is attached directly to left of the front door.    

Normal heights seems to allow obvious code infractions. 

It's normally a pretty worked market from investors.The fact that you have to go to the courthouse actually sounds like an advantage as not as many people will be doing that, but there may be vendors that source the data.Do some bigger pockets searches with respect to probate data and letters, the questions you're certain to run up against in the next few weeks as you try and put it together.As for filing those leads, good luck, lol, it's a bear any way you do it (as I recently discovered).Best of luck,  JTM

On the same token, will a traditional lender allow a duplex or 4-plex to be purchased with a normal fannie may or super conforming loan?