And of course collusion to keep bidding amounts down was alive and well. its illegal as hell but done all the time.. there was a group in NC that got tagged by the FBI back in the middle 2000s and it cost them 800k fine dont think they went to jail though..

However, one idea to consider is some "middle ground" for your investing...

The wife and I are in the middle of building an 800sqft detached 2BR 1 bath ADU in our backyard near St.Augustine in downtown Raleigh and was curious what you find they return in equity.

When you are there, you don't think of it as middle-of-no-where but an exciting place with acres and acres of civil war memories but in fact it's just in the rural PA - fields and forests/game land.

Ashley is my middle/professional name.

@Thomas Polise has multiple STRs there, including one that is a four-plex in the middle of town.

A few others have called out Hemlane, who appear also quite responsive here on BP and also offer a degree of repair/work order management baked right into their middle/upper tier offerings (versus having to bolt-on as with RentRedi + Latchel). 

We have stabilized 2 properties so far and we are in the middle of the refinance on the second.

I'm in the middle of Brandon's book at the moment. 

An argument can be made that you will generate a higher net worth there than say middle of nowhere Alabama.3.