Talk to your attorney, and if you dont have one, get one - as @Ken M. said, this is highly specific to the state and the circumstances.

Different with each shop.Sounds like you haven't done one yet. 

Those tend to be the neighborhoods that are gentrifying.Unique stuff to Pittsburgh I would say is don't go based on zip codes since one zip code can be composed of multiple different areas/neighborhoods.

Imagine making millions of dollars over the course of your career and then having to pay 30-50% every year to uncle sam instead of compounding that cash over time.This is exactly what real estate professionals have learned to mitigate.To reduce their taxable income, they just buy a building every year, do a cost seg, and use depreciation to reduce their tax liability dramatically.Their personal wealth snowball grows much larger and much faster than their W2 counterparts who give most of their money back to the government each year.Following this strategy as a real estate professional is one of best ways to end up with a much larger net worth at the end of your career.

One thing I didn't see mentioned was an equity partnership.

We close on one more townhome in early February.

In one case they used a notary at the local US consulate.

I have my own lease and handle it with a paper document, that way I can walk the tenants through the property on move-in day with a move-in checklist and a short tone-setting discussion of what I expect from anyone who rents one of my properties.

It is not uncommon for auctions like this one to get rescheduled multiple times before ever actually making it to the courthouse steps. 

One of the major issues I see is this.