Also, these options near the Bay area are increasingly rare.Beyond that, I think you look at communities with the magic combination of decent prices, job & population growth, and a reasonable (and trending reasonable) regulatory environment.

Gennie Mae was very critical of the FHFA which is the regulatory agency of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, due to the fact that FHFA will only back stop owner occupied purchases and no cash out refinances.

It's not the issue of the vast amount of information about notes and security interests so much as it is with related areas of finance, then to legal compliance with 50 different states and sets of federal laws that are anchored in various agencies, from the Department of Agriculture to the SEC, regulatory issues from a dozen different angles.

Another stop is your local Housing Authority, they have the stats on low mod housing inventory and HUD regulatory aspects that can be applied, they will work with other city offices to improve areas and the inventory of housing.Form a neighborhood watch, have the city post signs.

Failure to understand the breadth and depth of regulatory control. 

For the most part, private business transactions are exempt from regulatory oversight, not just lending but business.

Not even enforcement or regulatory agencies?

If something is there that we didn't see, we'll deal with it because we're supposed to be pros at evaluating deals...I think that can help with the credibility factor when we come in with aggressive offers.All this said, we had one deal that we backed out of because of some unforeseen regulatory items.  

Regulatory relief is officially on its way, but before you get too excited, here's the bad news.

Answer that first.STRs- Too much regulatory and market risk.