I have been really digging deep into the area's statistics and I drive through it every day on my way to work.Last week my business partner and I found what we thought was a great rehab project in the area and in our price range and we went and checked it out with a local agent...well unfortunately, we decided it was too much work for our first deal, so we kept looking.This week I've had my eye on a property but I would really appreciate some experienced guidance first.The property is listed for $51K with 2 beds and 1 bath at nearly 700 sq ft and valued at  $61K.

I have always known that there is a wealth of information on the "statistics" side of the system, but have never really taken advantage of it frankly because the amount of data is overwhelming.

Research the Bureau of Labor and Statistics for specific job industries and how the area and its industries are currently doing.If you do buy an Income Property be sure to start with a reasonable Capital Improvement account for emergencies.

Many cities have crime statistics on a website. 

Let's not turn this into a pit bull debate and politics as it has been discussed at length in the past.For every statistic that someone can show them as lovable and huggable then another can show the exact opposite.I have had varying animals all my life so know a lot about them.

As a professional "analyst" and operations manager, I develop statistical real estate investment models in Excel. 

Besides the 1 in a million times event which they talk on TV, I would be curious to know how many of you landlords have been in a lawsuit and how much it cost you.There are thousands of landlords on BP so that should give us a ‘statistically relevant sample’Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Yes, the amortizations must be coordinated together, you won't have 120 pay periods, you would have something like 122.7 payment periods and the odd fractional payment owing at the end, if less than the amortized payment would be due with the last payment and not considered a balloon payment, but a final payment.Amateur finance types (uninformed) will not understand the weighted approach to multiple of interest bearing on different loan amounts over different amortized periods, unless they suffered through some statistics or finance classes in college.

I have seen a statistic somewhere that SFRs generally only rise in price to track average inflation, they don't rise to much from intrinsic value appreciation.  

How do seasoned investors get foresight , are there any publications, statistics  one should always be watching locally and nationally in order to notice the winds of change.I am very excited and enthusisatic about the real estate investment game but at the same time would like to learn the lead indicators.Appreciate your insight and foresight.ThanksInder