As you can see there is no simple checklist that makes these decisions black and white.

I'd recommend trying to get out to the Black Diamond meeting in Waltham at the end of the month, best one out there right now IMO.  

Here is the deal:A 1,126 sq ft cape with an attached garage.  2 bed/1bath built in 1958.  

Clair) [email protected] McClammy, Ranking member (D, Montgomery) [email protected] Ball (R, Madison) [email protected] Black (D, Lawrence, Lauderdale and Colbert) [email protected] Beckman (R, Elmore and Autauga) [email protected] Coleman-Evans (D, Jefferson) [email protected] Drake (R, Jefferson and Shelby) [email protected] England (D, Tuscaloosa) [email protected] Faulker (R, Jefferson) [email protected] Fridy (R, Shelby) [email protected] Givan (D, Jefferson) [email protected] Pettus (R, Lauderdale) [email protected] Rowe (R, Walker and Blount) [email protected]

Going a little further I would recommend checking out the Black Diamond meeting in Waltham (2nd location in Worcester), since you are interested in larger properties the topic this month is commercial financing so a good one to check out (meeting is this Tuesday).  

For example, I'll look at and do deals anywhere in RI, especially as I have some business partners in south county, but for my buy-and-holds I personally stick to northern RI in the vicinity of Providence/Cranston/Warwick just because it's closer to me.Also if you haven't visited a local investing group in our area such as RIREIG (rireig.com) or Black Diamond REI (blackdiamondrei.com) I'd recommend that too as it's a nice complement to Bigger Pockets, meeting people face to face, hearing about the latest news in our markets, etc.And check out the BP podcasts too, they're always entertaining and informative :)

Really don't give a half a hoot how long someone does something or what is common on the black market of note gurus, wrong is still wrong.

There are usually several wholesale deals presented at each event, and I know tonight that there is a deal in Danvers being presented at Black Diamond (url in my signature)

And if you work in some of the original black neighborhoods in Atlanta with 100 year old houses you can be thrown for a loop, because the properties often were passed down within the family without probate (because the lawyers were usually white and they didn't trust them). 

You are all right in the sense that if it's a major job what was once a promising little cashflowing property can soon become a money trap or worse, a black hole for my money.Cheers!