We are starting to see the foreclosures trickle (or spike in some counties) through more, which means in 2-4 months we will see more REO inventory.

If they do not, they take the risk of never being able to live in the place they actually want when they get much older.Certain cities like NYC and SF is a must if this is where you want to eventually live for the long term.Rents spike and continue getting higher.Every year for the last 2 decades I keep hearing all the excuses.... it's too expensive to buy in NYC.2 decades ago, when I bought my first Investment, a 2 Family in Brooklyn, was $350k.Today, I can sell that investment for $1.5 Million.BUT, instead of being happy that I have made so much money for that one single property.... what makes me more happier is the fact that I live in that Investment now (I moved back in to this Investment Property this year).All of my relatives that lived in Brooklyn but moved out, either never bought or had bought but sold a long time ago..... cannot any longer afford to buy in Brooklyn anymore.Even renting has become incredibly expensive.As another example of this phenomenon, I had a friend, Steve, who lived in Manhattan.We both invested similarly in to two different properties in 2004.I invested in a 4 Unit property with a Purchase Price of $800k in Brooklyn.

Keep you momentum, and I aspire to be right on your heels.

If any one unit gets excessive, I start to look into what is going on.I take a look at the master utility expenses now and then to see if anything spikes.. can be a good clue of an unseen water leak, or tenants tapping master power to grow weed (haven't had that problem yet!)

They also don't want anybody that they know nipping at their heels (future competition) which would make it harder for them to "keep up with the Jones".    

Another spike of decent tenants hit the market for January 1st move in, but that market if far smaller than the summer months.I had a crazy tenant move into a place in September and move out before October started.

In reality probably very few of those deeds even reflect many of those Jan-May 2014 petitions (Which incorporates the first few months of the 15 month year over year petition spikes) so I only expect more and more places to get taken back.I expect to see REOs continue to increase every month for a while since we are now at the point that this LONG period of big petition increases will get to the point where final auctions will take place.I should also point out that I also look at the local price trends in a lot of communities as I have been putting a lot of market reports on my website and I see lots of price stagnation and even lots of regression.  

The water meters were still installed in case future owners decided to change how it is handled or, more importantly, if there is an issue and they notice a spike in the bill; the submeters could help identify more quickly which unit is the source of the issue.

Though I know there are lots of good MBA programs, for the tuition to make sense, the out of the gate salary increases really need to spike IMO.

To add the cherry on top , was the spiked punchbowl of free money which further resulted in the excessive bidding up of real estate values.