I am a brand new investor about to do my first flip, and have little I can spend on the project, so I'm looking to borrow the full sales price (I believe this is possible?). 

And lenders often string borrowers along for many months then deny the mod.You sort of imply you found out about this after the wedding.  

Many times they can leave out key details on the purchasers.Right now you are looking at making a life altering decision and you do not know what the exact issue is with the borrower currently.

I like the skip-traces because it has family phone numbers as well to try to reach a borrower.  

You need to look up the state redemption requirements for a borrower to exercise the right, generally if they fail to give notice, provide a bond or follow the requirements prior to foreclosure they lose the right to redeem the loan.

That's who you're competing with in today's frothy market because bubbles make everyone act stupidly.Another way to protect yourself is buy a building with some value-add component, borrow 10 year fixed rate money with 25 year amortization and 70% LTV.

BORROWER'S OBLIGATION TO MAINTAIN THE PROPERTY AND TO FULFILL OBLIGATIONS IN LEASE AND CONDOMINIUM AND PUD DOCUMENTSI will keep the Property in good repair.

While there are many games you can play, including borrowing against a 401(k), partnering with someone with cash, working with seller financing, and using equity from your personal residence, the harsh reality is this:If you can't aggressively accumulate money every month, you probably won't succeed in real estate.If you want to buy real estate out in Cali, Bro, you are probably going to need to be WAY more aggressive than the rest.

LOL which is not a sub prime borrower but funds were going to sub prime neighborhoods.The banks know were the foreclosure clusters are.. a friend of mine works for company that  that is all they do is analyze risk by demographic and geographic areas they can tell a bank up front basically what they will deal with with defaults and how much to put aside.There were PLENTY of high wage earners 700 plus ficos in CA that got wiped out.. and they also borrowered as Chris pointed out ( crappy loans) because of the RE craze.. it was all over the place. 

You might defeat the purpose as your DTI would be higher after borrowing your reserves.