I get about 20 lease option requests for every 1 purchase offer I get, and while I can appreciate people trying to make the offer on a lease/option route it just seems as though these offers are amateur to me.

I'm sorry but I'm such an amateur when it comes to this stuff.

At the same time there are property investors with very large portfolios (20,000) so there must be something that works.I think what you will find is newer investors or amateurs who are not on top of their game get into more trouble than seasoned investors and professional property managers.Warning: watch out for real estate agents who manage part time while filling in the gaps between sales.

I've talked to some experienced investors on this topic (multi-millionaire investors, not amateurs) and they are telling me that the way they are protecting their positions when buying shortsales is to buy the shortsales that will positively cashflow.

. :-)I'm really enjoying BP and hope to start participating in the forums now that I've created an account.I'm a "professional" amateur, meaning I've been doing just a little real estate on the side since 1990, sometimes for flips, sometimes for short-to-mid-term rentals, always with an eye on appreciation in my own residence as well.

I'll lay it all out there in the hope that some folks might have some useful insights or advice.I've been an "amateur" investor for most of my adult life, typically only having one or two rentals, with one unit being part of a duplex that I resided in.

Forklift what an amateur I use an Apache helicopter.

You want to be part of the conversation, so demonstrate your own rationale for why the deal makes sense.Finally, providing a clear and professional presentation delivers the message that you're no amateur -- you know how deals work and you know what you're talking about.

In my totally amateur-not-at-all-professional opinion, if I had money to invest in Southern California, I'd look closely at Temecula.

I apologize if this is a ridiculously amateur question.