For the third year in a row, Austin took the No. 3 spot on the Milken Institute's Best-Performing Cities report.Milken's index ranks cities on a variety of metrics, including jobs, wages, salaries and technology output.

Maybe it's the sort of properties I have the luxury of investing in here in the Rust Belt, but it's hard to get over how frequently people buy crap-made crapboxes because the numbers in their spreadsheet look good, trust the maintenance to some schmuck property manager who is willing to pretend to work for peanuts but who doesn't know beans about how houses work, and only find out when the metal meets the meat that they bought a crapbox managed by an incompetent that can't survive something like a major winter event.Like the weather's been highly predictable for the last fifty years and our politicians have routinely demonstrated excellence in disaster prevention and mitigation.I buy old houses up here in Pittsburgh, built during a golden age of pride in building.

Chicago has a rich culture and a variety of neighborhoods that appeal to all types of people.

Interesting article from Working Real Estate Magazine about the origins of RE Disclosures.Agent Disclosures and "Reasonable Diligence" - The Lawsuit that Started it Allby Isaac Peck, Editor If you've been a real estate agent longer than a day, you're familiar with the variety of disclosure paperwork that is shuffled back and forth between the buyer and seller during a property sales transaction.

There is a wide variety of properties that are still affordable and cash flow well. 

And while no one ever trashed my place, the turn over costs were definitely higher than my other properties (compound that with more frequent turns and it cost me a lot more overall).

Frequently the title/settlement agent is owned or affiliated with one of the parties in the transaction i.e. the seller (particularly if it's an REO), the real estate agent, the attorney, the lender or the buyer. 

Contact a variety of apartment syndicators - have them send your their investment summaries, attend their webinar presentations - not with the intent of investing now but rather increasing knowledge etc.Once you feel knowledgeable about the space, start actively looking for deals in the markets you like with operators you trust.As @Greg Scott notes, syndication deals do offer leverage.I believe strongly in diversification.With $250,000, I would look to make five different $50,000 investments.

I see 3-4 family's going for 5-10% above asking cash pretty frequently in Cincinnati off the MLS.Big companies are coming in and buying up 30-50 properties in a couple months, definitely doesn't seem sustainable and if the economy picks up I could see them all selling to put their money elsewhere for better returns.Even off market or soon to be on market don't want to sell or know they can get top dollar with little effort.im definitely not giving up but I can't wait for the sale to start or even a more balanced market.

And there are a million other investments.Hopefully, you will have a variety of investments throughout your life.