It has been good to us, but with prices and rates the way they are nowadays, it generally requires a decent amount of money down to make any given deal cash flow.As far as buying vacant land, I'm not exactly sure...

things is prospective sellers literally print it out to show their home is worth a million bucks.. just cuz Zestimate said so (nowadays when i check, it says unavailable 9 times out of 10 even when they are wielding their printout or smartphone screenshot)

Wow...so ~ $45,000 is the going rate of gaining "investing smarts" nowadays.  

My $0.02; Cap rates are really a gross measure, it is the 1st level of analysis that you do in your head to figure out if you should turn the page and read more about it.Bethlehem has nice areas (downtown, near moravian etc) and some bad areas.. south side near the casino (well maybe that is not quite "bad" but it is a certain apatite) or as you get closer to Allentown. 

What the exit strategy is and how they intend to revisit their capital investment with a good profit.It's getting a little more challenging nowadays since the foreclosure debacle brought such a gold rush mentality and buying hysteria to the field.

Depending on where in Chicago it is, it can be very hard to find the 1% rule nowadays.  

Being relatively new landlords (nowadays I'd say "see you when the sun comes up") I dragged Bill out of bed...in January...in a cold winter rain (we're in Georgia) to go trooping over to the house to be able to do...absolutely nothing in regards to a plumbing leak except shut the hot water heater down and turn the water off at the street (tenants were "worried" their water bill would be sky high from a leak) and leave five gallons of water for the tenants (which they never used).  

The stadium project also includes homes, a city park, a hotel, commercial development, and a new casino.

It should be noted that the Forrest Hills neighborhood in the North Ward of Newark is a buzz word for real estate agents now adays.

Hemet is only 90 miles from LA,has a population of about 90,000 and is close to 2 major employers( casinos )The area also has a good size senior population and the town is still recovering from the foreclosure crisis but there has been a lot of sales due to the lower prices as compared to LA.You have to filter the listings and view the short sale,foreclosures and straight sales to get an accurate picture.As an investor you need to stick to your criteria and then search Hemet to evaluate what is really going on beneath the surface .