The difference between a real estate agent and a Realtor is that a Realtor has voluntarily chosen to join a professional organisation of Real Estate Agents that governs their behaviour with very strict codes of ethics and best practices.

I feel like that is a large gamble in itself.

. :)Johnson City is a bit of a gamble right now, from what I can tell (and what my clients say).

It takes forever, and a mountain of paperwork from us as the borrower as well as from the chosen General Contractor.

SO with either of these two scenarios I would have lost my $500, hence why I would prefer to gamble with $75 instead.

One thing almost everyone does agree on -- any high-interest debt you have, vampire credit card debt, payday loans, outsized car payments on fast-depreciating vehicles, gambling debts, personal loans, you should pay that off.

Personally I am gambling and holding out for a while longer 

@Babu Ramadoss you're going to get the it depends answer. it depends on your short and long term goals. many will say chasing appreciation is gambling like the stock market. others say cash is king and never put your money where roi is not maximized. personally, my goal is replacing w2 income in 7 years so cashflow is king for me. that also means I need to use less leverage with lower roi, or do more brrr which would like take longer based on what I buy. your market will likely dictate one or other, and for the record I ignore appreciation in my underwriting as a buy and hold investor. the appreciation will never be realized until I refi out down the road.

There have been several houses I've chosen not to pursue due to high voltage wires in the vicinity, and subsequent strong EMFs. 

We've used and been happy with Tanner Ballew and Maloof insurance -- they can insure nationwide.We've since moved to a broker with Assured Partners who lives in the area in which we've chosen to focus.