You can cheat/gamble when you've got the cash and experience and still want to, but I wouldn't recommend it on your first one. 

I'd much rather invest for a 1% rule with the help of people I know and trust. 2% rule is not worth the gamble, if you don't have a team.

Most of the HOA bids I see, where the mortgage foreclosure has not started, or recently started, equal 1 1/2 to 2 years of rent....doesn't seem to be a good gamble.

This is a very important piece in itself, that you would have to gamble on.

At best it is a business you actively work and at worst it is gambling.

Up until that time, it can be a series of gambles or an expense depending on the demand for housing and your screening criteria.

I've been thinking about contacting an attorney on this, but it's a gamble.

. :( Each is a gamble..

It is always better to hire GC with insurance and pay a little more than take the gamble because you might have a pro tenant who might step on a nail in a piece of wood the GC laid down and the GC has no insurance guess who they will go after.

The article shows who they are and how they operate locally.Patrick,Here "was" my take on the situation earlier in the year when I heard hedge funds and private equities buying foreclosures.The hedge funds and private equities are gambling with OPM.