Mike Dymski Random unrelated question after looking at your profile...Do you feel that you're in a position to retire with your 34 rental units?

Finding a good renter who likes condo living seems like a relatively safe bet...if the positive cash flow is not eaten away by capital expenditures, lack of reserves, and routine maintenance on big ticket items.  

Tax liens, pre foreclosures with equity, absentee owners, properties that havent been sold in a long time, property in probate, reaching out to the beneficiaries or successor trustees of property put into trusts when the trustee dies, befriending a divorce attorney and asking them for leads, looking through the registry for loan modifications usually these people still cannot keep up with their mortgage.

Your solution is you can buy quickly and in as-is condition.For high equity and 100% equity sellers, maybe they want to sell to cash in on their equity, but their home needs $35,000 in repairs. 

For example, if there is a lot of equity, you can probably wholesale it to another investor.

You can buy the 1st property with an FHA loan, but if you can buy a deal, something you may be able to renovate and build up equity, you can possibly refinance to a conventional loan and use the FHA loan all over again.

You may also consider houses that require some renovation, that way you can generate some instant equity.

If an agent specializes in real estate investing, they should thoroughly vet each property they present to you ensuring that it will show positive cash flow in the current and projected conditions.

. ~5% return.Spotted a development opportunity, for someone, a few days ago as I was cycling home from my brother's. 2350m2 (up to 5 sections) & 8 to 10 times as big as my equity. 5 minutes walk to edge of a big university (Canterbury).

I'm currently working to rehab and add value to a duplex in SF, and then hoping to use that equity created to fund more REI.