That said, my parents did lose a lot of money in the Swiss RE market (although they attribute most of it to Swiss laws being unfavorable to foreign owners).As you are already aware, there's a glut of information on BP for how to invest in the US market.

I am so incredibly happy and thankful for BP and all the help from people like YOU - because without it I may have found myself with a property with unfavorable returns or settling to understand things I heard like "1% is old school, can't find it anymore" and "that price will be hard to find in this area." 

Obviously my cash reserves make any deal with a partner unfavorable to me, but I'm mostly looking for rehab/landlording experience.

One day, the naysayers will be right, and my cash flow will have to help me ride out an unfavorable cycle.

This was the criteria I used (it's heavily based on the Best Ever Syndication Apartment book written by Joe Fairless):Criteria UnemploymentGet this information from Census.gov under the “Selected Economic Characteristics” data tableCalculate the unemployment change over a five-year period using the unemployment percentage for the city for the last five yearsIdeally, you want one that is decreasingA low, stagnant rate is acceptableA high and/or low increasing rate is unfavorablePopulationBoth the city and MSA population data can be found on Census.gov The city data will be under the “Annual Population Estimates” data tableThe MSA data is located in the “Annual Estimate of the Resident Population” data tableCalculate the population change for both the target market city and the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) using the population data for the last five years for the marketAn increasing population is idealA stagnant or decreasing trend is unfavorable, Especially if apartment supply is on the rise Population AgeFind this data on the Census.gov website under the “Demographic Characteristics” table.

That rate of return made it unfavorable compared to other markets where you can achieve greater returns for less cash out-of-pocket.As my trademark saying goes, "Live where you want.  

As far as the taxes or other unfavorable criteria- factor that into your numbers.

The school district is actually junk there.Additionally, Cook County (chicago and some of the tighter burbs are in cook county) has one of the most unfavorable landlord/tenant laws you're going to come across.  

Your job (or the stable, long-term income stream from that job, rather) is the primary asset backing most conventional mortgatges - which I think are one of the most reasonable and likely means for many newbie investors to get financing for their first few real estate investments.Basically - if you quit your job, you can't get a mortgage... which DELAYs your first investment substantially by making access to financing much more difficult or impossible, or worse will create very unfavorable financing terms and dilute your ownership.By the way, I'm NOT talking about the person who is ready to quit their job and become a full fledged entrepreneur.

In addition, the forms will let borrowers know about unfavorable features, such as prepayment penalties or increases in the loan balance.The new rule requires specific mathematical computations to disclose the borrower's and lender’s title insurance fees.