Quote from @Kerry Noble Jr: Preforeclosures are best called or door knocked.Tax delinquent or code voiolationsPreforeclosures, Tax delinquent, code voiolations, probates/inheretence, quit claim deeds, water shut off are the best lists.Understand it is a volume game. sending out 500 mailers probably won't yield any results.

I guess I just rolled with it because I had 45 days to play the game or call in my chips with a +30% payout to the government.   

These large outfits have a staff of attorneys that can fight city hall.

This is a great community to connect with people, learn the ropes, and get advice from those who've been in the game for a while.

We debate selling it all the time but we know homes in CA usually always increase in value and it is just a waiting game and we can’t sell it right now and make a profit yet.

Hello, I am completely new to real estate investing and was hoping to find out from people who have been in the game for a while what a realistic earning potential would be from accumulating long term rentals over time. 

If BRICS was joined by OPEC, that's it, game over for USD and "west".     

So I require skin in the game (average is 5% to 15%) to offset this.

But I looking at the long game - I want valued tenants that take care of the property and minimize wasting my time.

Hey @Scott Meech - Check out your competition with furnished finder that is where a lot of Medium Turn rentals list their properties.I have a MTR in Chicago that has been decently successful...whatever I have found throughout my entire life and investing career is it is never one property/deal that is a grand slam...Rather, the grand slam is done by hitting many singles and using systems and processes to scale your operation; the combination of scaling and experience in a niche of real estate allows you to hit unlimited grand slams because, unlike baseball, real estate is NOT a zero-sum game.