The only two cities in that list that even pretend to cash flow are Chicago and Philly, and even within those, the cash flow areas aren't necessarily going to be the areas you want to live in, and certainly not vacation in.

It will be odd to pretend you are the property manager when you are the owner! 

I'm in LA and regardless of most things not being affordable, anything that even pretends to be affordable even within some hours' range of driving, won't cash flow.

We can pretend that there is a huge difference in cabinets or granite or tile or whatever, but I haven't found it to be that great once we get to the installed price. 

Perhaps they pretend to read it but simply sign without having really understood what they have read.The advantage of a "verbal" lease is that these folks have month to month tenancies; much easier to terminate than yearly leases. 

Nobody is pretending to be an expert after buying 7 homes.

I do not pretend to change my residence to the US, so I already ordered the book "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene as recommended in the podcast #257.

Of course the problem with this is that I had no money and needed to pretend that I did, and then I went into debt paying taxes just so I could get the mortgages...

If I was on the other side of this argument, i.e. the IRS side, I would destroy it.I'm waiting for someone to suggest that @Brian Henry can simply ignore his son's living there and pretend that the house is 100% rental, with only 2 tenants.

Pretend you're a renter, go search on Craigslist, Zillow, etc. for apartments, homes, etc. in the area.