Barring a nationwide plunge like in 2009, diversification across markets is a good risk-mitigation toolIf you are looking for a more passive investment, going the Turnkey route on an OOS property sort of forces you to actually be pretty passive.

Many of the above over pay and have a long time-frame... to "mitigate the risk" I guess there are many ways to skin the cast....Im using leverage and in it for the cash-flow and forced appreciation, not land banking and hoping. 

It's only good business to do this as a way to mitigate your risks and put your policy in secondary positions to the renters policy for liability caused by them?

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

@Teren Cooley  I am doing some background research and analysis on the wholesaling business model and a possible alternative that can mitigate some of the legal issues. 

This mitigates in my mind some of the down-side of the CFD's

There’s a company called Assurant that you can use to help mitigate your risk.

There are probably seasoned investors who can figure out creative ways to make most any deal work but my feeling is that new investors should be more selective about the deals they choose to take on since they have less experience in mitigating risk and estimating costs beforehand.I'm actively looking for my first property and one of my criteria is that I will only buy a house that needs mainly cosmetic updates and even then within certain limits.

Another question : I was visiting houses in Penn Hills but several people have a quite mitigated advice about this area.

Just trying to mitigate risk and increase chances of profit in the future and while stumbling across real estate I realized it’s something that greatly interest me and I enjoy studying, researching and participating in it.