I agree that there are some unsettling trends, but they are local and i can't quite get my head around their root causes.  

I am located in Nashville, TN at the moment but am rooted in New Orleans.  

Take a look here: http://www.co.gregg.tx.us/septic-systems-information or call Paul Root - his # is on that page.

There are commercial products that can kill the root of the tree and not harm the rest of your yard. 

The key to investing from afar is to have a partner that you can trust and that both of you agree with how things are done in the partnership.Moving around a lot will give you the advantage of being able to do deals in many markets; having a partner rooted in one area will also give you a solid foundation to work from.

First thing I thought of reading the description was roots growing into the main sewage pipe in the yard (between house and street).

@Langdon Root I would say you answered your own question.  

This type of investor was rooted in buy and hold needed for me to build his trust to get into more active projects..so we would meet every couple months and I would keep him up to date on projects, experience, provide deal numbers, talk real estate strategies, etc.

Parking area, new Business Sign, Trees and roots around the house, Fence around the property. 10-15kInternal Repairs and Maintenance: HVAC, Plumbing, Stairs, Carpet, Walls. 10-15kUnexpected: 10kUtilities( No immediate additional expenses)Management Fees ( No immediate additional expenses)Below is the formula I'm planning to use to calculate an initial offer.

I focus my efforts almost exclusively on SF now as I know the market fairly well, I have roots here, and Minh Le opened my eyes to all the possibilities.