The average home owner is putting 3.5% down on their property which is a huge amount of leverage which is giving a huge amount of juice to their returns.Also just look up average net worth of homeowners vs renters and the discussion becomes an  obvious moot point.As @Elizabeth Colegrove points out, owning in major metropolitan areas with high amounts of appreciation is even more beneficial.

In other words, it really got my r.e. juices flowing!!  

I had an entrepreneurial fire in my belly so I designed and outsourced the development of a little software application that serves a niche industry.  

Meet actual honest people with references belly to belly at meetups.  

Try to build a relationship with your seller...belly button to belly button.

Stanley.I think BP book, Low and No Money down is another great start to get your investing juices flowing and to begin looking into strategies you may want to utilize.  

If you do get it back, the property could have significant damage as well.I like that your thinking creatively, but the pain & costs of getting bank loans plus the 3 huge risks above, would turn me away.Owner-occ loans are also highly regulated.Keep those creative juices flowing, Trevor!

(I own an auction company - you should have a running agreement with a local auctioneer so that when you do the next one you are ready.)You should be able to flip your controlled property from contract to settlement in nor more than 7 weeksAs for the tenant - sure it is OK for the deed owner to give the tenant notice to vacate - probably  good idea if your assignee is going to live there.The most important thing is that you are controlling the property at a discount and that there is enough juice (equity) for you to make money!

Montgomery County and Fairfax County I generally like for appreciation (Not like the super juiced kind of DC, but still better than average) in areas like Fairfax, Rockville, Silver Spring, Herndon.  

Tracy Springfield unfortunately no, I'm reading about it and going to some investor meetings so I understand if you don't want to meet , I have little knowledge about it , I just need something or someone to help get the juices flowing so I can get started if that makes sense.