Buying Foreclosures, REOs. Short Sales, FSBO, MLS and More

Quick questions...

1) When we post a ghost ad on craigslist should we include a picture or a house in the area?

2) Should we post the ad as "for sale by owner" or as "broker"?

3) Should we mention that we are actually investors ourselves in the ad?

I have posted several ghost ads with just:

Must sell fast for cash!! $89,000, call XXX-XXX-XXXX

no one has actually called but I have gotten email response but when I respond I don't hear anything from them. Don't know what I'm doing wrong.

So my question is, when you go to an agent and you try doing the 25/1 strategy, is there a specific type of Single Family Home criteria this suppose to be done for or I'm suppose to be using it for? Cuz what I notice, the agent would send me REO/Short Sales, so I thought I was only suppose to be looking at single family homes that need TLC and etc but that aren't REO/Short Sales, or it's this common when going through the MLS for these this type of SFH and REO/Short Sale to be linked to one another? Please help, this is my only dilemma of why can't keep moving forward without knowing what the 25/1 is made for?

I've read Dean's 3 books and searched this forum and I can't find a specific answer to my questions.
I'm ready to make my first offer on a REO property but I got some questions:

1- What contract do I use to make an offer to the bank.

2- How can I make offer and lock deal with bank with no money or with the least money possible. (Realtor asked me for $1k deposit to submit offer) or can I use a POF letter to make offer and lock deal?

3- Once offer is accepted by bank how much time should I request for before closing so I can lock deal with my buyer?

4- How can I avoid loosing my deposit if my closing time expires with bank?

5- What contract should I use for double closing?

I really appreciate your guys help in this matter.

The 30-year mortgage is a U.S. consumer institution, affording families a path to full homeownership at reasonable monthly payments (although banks and lenders make out like bandits on the high interest payments.)

But Approved Mortgage, in Orange City, Fla., says big changes are coming in the form of two congressional reform bills that could put the 30-year mortgage out to pasture for good.

Whether that outcome is good for homeowners is debatable, as a company statement calls the two bills a " growing concern " for potential homebuyers.

The bills:

Hi DG Fam, Hope all is well and everyone is crushing it.

Have been MIA for sometime, been hustling lol. Just want to share with everybody that I'm closing on 7 whole sale deals this month and its so awesome!! Goes to show you that Dean knows what he's talking about. Thank god I saw him on a infomercial late at night Not trying to brag, just genuinely excited that I'm doing this and making it happen. I get pumped and excited when I hear and see other people on this site doing so many deals that it just makes me want to do as good as them. These are mostly REO deals and I'm not using any of my money or escrow. So just keep pushing forward and follow you vision, don't listen to the ones that say this doesn't work cause there are so many more people here making it work!

I am currently following the 30 day blueprint and this is my first time doing real estate. I got close to making 2 offers and lost my bottle. This was because I was told by my 2 REAs, on separate occasions and deals, that I would need to pay something in to escrow on top of the earnest money deposit, in order to start the assignment procedure.

I wasn't aware of this so it threw me. I went home and looked up escrow and it does seem that some amount of money has to be placed into it. I'm just unsure of when and at what stage this should happen.

Over at DoctorHousingBubble.com, an article this week speaks negatively about the influence of investors, particularly the big players buying up foreclosures. The old Greenspan comment related to “irrational exuberance” is resurfacing related to real estate investing. The article states that Wall Street and the big banks and institutions are inflating this new asset class and creating a new boom and bust cycle.

I'm in Brooklyn NY and I found 7 REO'S on Zillow, yet 2 of my realters cannot find the location of the seller or brokers that has them of any of them,how, why is that?

I just had a meeting with my real estate agent about getting started with the 25:1 system and it seems there's a little set back. My agent told me that i have to have earnest money and proof of funds letter before putting in offers. How do i begin to get this task completed? any suggestions would be appreciated.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/218467821.html