The trend that I am thinking of is "buying in an area we like" or "a type of home we love", and while I am not opposed to that general line of thinking I am concerned that it may not be the best way to make money in the market.

To the above quote, I would make one correction in that liabilities are not defined by something that does not increase in value, rather something that takes money out of your pocket as opposed to an asset which places money into your pocket.Somebody mentioned the personal residence and how some would argue it is an asset and some the other way.

Ryan,I have a background in multifamily financing so if you ever need commercial financing as opposed to traditional please let me know.Peter

Daniel, I have a personal opinion that the better use of retirement funds is investing in notes and trust deeds as opposed to holding property.

@Joseph Murders My focus is on single family/small multifamily rental investing, although I wouldn't be opposed to taking on a few flips down the road with an experienced flipper!

If so, how much of an effect would tax brackets and potential dividend extraction taxes have as opposed to simply being taxed on my share of the profits generated under a partnership?

That is the reason the rents are high even with a cheaper house The above 30k example is outside of Cali but Cali is about the same.As for Cali the school argument was used to oppose prop 13.

We decided to scale back the contract to 3 months as opposed to 6 months.

I am not sure if it's the best or right market, but it's a drive away (as opposed to a flight) and there seems to be areas that are cash flowing steady.If I understand correctly, you're looking for a 30%+ return ($30K with $100K investment) - to the best of my knowledge, that seems to be fairly aggressive for rentals - maybe you can get that return on fix and flips.

So now if I find a property that deems worthy of an investor to flip and make a lot of $, why wouldn’t I just keep the property for myself and rehab/flip as opposed to selling for smaller profit just to let someone else do it?