The real estate market here never ceases to amaze me, when I bought this place it was in a "undesirable" part of Berkeley which has seen numerous improvements over the last 5 years and I thought I was paying to much 5 years ago.

Still need to run all of your numbers and ensure any property is a good investment if you are planning on being in this for the long haul.There are numerous posts on FHA financing and living in a portion of your first rental property.

@Amelia Bartlett, there are numerous threads discussing the topic of title searches here on BP.

You buy the tax deed or foreclose on a lien and get the deed to the lot and now you inherited the costs of infrastructure and rebuilding the lot. 3) Numerous other reasons for the lot owner to be defaulting on taxes.

I've resorted to driving for vacant and dilapidated homes, and mailing them, just because it's more targeted and cheaper because it's a lower quantity of leads; also, I'm on Zillow everyday with saved search.

My friend's father, also a real estate investor specializing in multi-family properties, has numerous LLCs established (her guesstimate was about 18 LLCs) for tax purposes.

I think you'll find you pick up numerous tips and great info along the way!

From a fellow BP addict who has attended BPA numerous times (bigger pockets anonymous) and failed to quit, congrats on reaching 500 posts.

In DC, if you can cashflow $200 per month on a property, thats pretty good in my book.The reasons that not everyone is jumping in and buying instead of renting are numerous:1.

(I know, I am going to hell).To attempt to quantify the numerous reasons why I pursue such things is beyond the desired length of this post.