One thing about real estate is that time is a great forgiver - if you can hold long enough, you almost cannot make a mistake with real estate; the people that get burned are the ones who *have* to sell, for whatever reason.

How it was handled is messy, poor docs, potential fraud from owner forging end buyer signature without consent, no paydown financial logs(amortiz table) on the REC since there was no escrow company involved so the payments were going in direct to seller account who was not paying property taxes and the tenant is getting burned on this deal.(2)The contract almost non existent or sketchy at best.

Both you and @Cassidy Burns are sort of correct - from the perspective of the 1031. 

I spend my nights running numbers and burning out on how crazy this market has become!

@Cassidy Burns this makes perfect sense.

@Caitlin Burns, it sounds like you are really doing your due diligence.

Once you've been burned by one you will vet the rest as if their auditioning for an entry level position at the CIA.

The majority of the stories you hear about people getting burned are people who were convinced to skip inspections or accept the problems in them.

Hi BP as a longtime lurker-listener-reader, finally have some capital burning a hole in my mattress.I have been researching PA (Lehigh Valley: Allentown, Bethlehem etc.), but feel I’m a little late to the game since it seems that everyone in the Tri-State area swarmed there starting last year.Ideally looking for a small multi-fam which I can house hack, but also open to SFR’s as well, my main focus is on obtaining a property that produces a positive cash flow.Was hoping if anyone could provide some insight into how this market is currently faringOr Any general advice from those who have/are invested in the areaOr Any recommendations for specific nearby neighborhoods to research deeper within my price range (approx. 250-300K)Thank you all!

And burning it does release CO2  (hydrocarbon + Oxygen = heat + water +CO2).