The catch is that they need to be similar to your target property.  

I try to catch them at home to say hello in person as well.  

I am particularly interesting in local investing as it would be easier to have eyes and hands on the process.

So I sent in my contractor to inspect and see what's going on.When he came back and reported the property was in good shape and total estimated repairs would be under 10k,I wondered what could account for the low list price....and why the property was still on the market after 45 days in a hot market with all these eagle-eyed investors focused on the Jacksonville area...Then I went to look at it myself.Property was right under the I-10W but most of the traffic noise blew right on top of the building and you could hardly hear the traffic.Here was the kicker for me:There was already a long term tenant in place paying $800/mo with no rent increase in the past 5 years....and he didn't want to move.Long story short,I offered 50k,sellers countered at 55k.Deal done last week.I sent a speculative notice to tenant raising rent to $975/mo 2 days ago and received a signed lease back within 24 hours!

But here's the catch, compare to getting almost nothing from rental in China, 2500 USD/month from the duplex which is almost 13500 RMB/month, is a great income for Chinese investor.

I believe my RE agent provides great value to my deals with market/area/comp insight, a read on other agents and sellers, updates on what's happening in the market & market players, connections to the "aggressive" bankers & appraisers and a second set of eyes on the deal.  

Eye-opening for sure.

This will let you know exactly what is totally owed to the bank and what amount you can pay to catch up the payments if you are doing a sub-to.You can also have the seller fill out a release of information authorization, send that to the bank and you can call the bank and ask them for the payoff and reinstatement amounts yourself.

I will keep an eye open for you!!! 

Please PM me, i'd like to discuss a property I have my eye on this weekend.Thanks