To do most of preliminary searches, I use a free county searches that only show you the index, have to pay to see all the documents.  

In this example, the "average" house went up by $30K, or 10% - while the index captured a whopping 150% increase in same-property sales on my flip, to add to the average of the price index.

As it stands your looking at cash on cash returns of just over 2% + equity capture, which is hard to justify when you can make more in an index fund on a section 8 property.

For Example, let's look at the "Zillow Home Value Index" of College Station, Texas.

I used to invest in stocks ( still own some) Individual stocks I believe to be more speculative vs a Mutual fund or a index fund (which fools advocate) I prefer something tangible and something I have "Some" control over that is why I like real estate.I agree, they seem to assume zero learning.

Index: 1-Month LIBOR Margin: 2.25% Floor: 2.85% Life Cap: 10.95% (Ouch) J.

As an insurance broker I find small business owners with income tax issues all the time.I recommend SEP IRA (funded with an indexed annuity with a 10% bonus on first years premium), 412i, a Koegh plan, or safeharbor 401k.Most Americans dont start paying themselves until Thursday or Friday due to the amount of taxes on everything, deducting retirement contributions is a way to gain back one of those days.

This is the time bomb that will implode the system leading to either an Amero currency (think Trans Pacific Partnership) or the Bancor (one world currency ssdrs)It's painfully obvious that real estate valuations are once again at asset-bubble extremes.Correspondent Mark G. submitted a chart of the Wilshire REIT (real estate investment trusts) index that sums up the current real estate market in one image: it's painfully obvious that real estate valuations are once again at asset-bubble extremes, one that's even bigger than the last RE bubble that popped in 2008 with devastating consequences to the global economy.http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-30/what-real-estate-bubble-oh-you-mean-one-thats-bigger-2007-bubbleThis is important for the housing market, because mortgage rates tend to follow the yield on 10 year U.S.

Assuming you can find decent, stable tenants that don't have you busy worrying with them, I would say this is a better investment than a bank account or an index fund, by far.

The recorder index is online where I am for most counties.