If it worked the people would not be selling it and instead would be doing it, retired, and living on a beach, in a mansion, or on a yacht somewhere not trying to get $10-$50k out of you to teach you how to do it!

But perhaps I'm not as efficient or as creative as I can be (good chance since I'm newer in the business), and I keep hearing about people who've gone from living in their car to filming their guru programs at their beachfront mansion in Florida.  

This is evaluating my hard work finding scarce deals and putting equal value to it.The way I see it, I had a lot more risk than the flipper would have.A flipper CAN do due diligence, find out an accurate ARV, and even subtract 10, 20, 30K from the ARV just to be sure, and calculate quite accurately what the minimum profit will be he will be making.He can then say yes or no to said deal, and no big deal.Me as the wholesaler have no such luxury.

That does not include principal pay down which pushes returns higher.If you are going to try an advanced strategy fracturing 1031 money into multiple buckets to diversify then that has to be started ultra early.

His fleet of about 50 mid-range houses reflect 30+ years of refining what works for most investors who are neither dealing with luxury or low end rentals.

This includes their Multi-Purpose Primer, Drywall Primer, Duron Ultra Delux, ProClassic (latex), and Super Paint. 

For my money in the price range you are talking about, you can pick up a great 2 family and live a pretty luxurious lifestyle (or pick up 2 for that price and have some great cash flow...)- mac

I remember home buyers coming here from Cali and couldn't believe they could get a mansion here for 800k that costs millions and millions more in Cali.So maybe selling and then leveraging another state with lower pricing and higher returns is the answer.You will just have to analyze and see.

Yes some price have gone down, mostly the folks who over built the luxury condo market are taking a beating, as they should be.

With all the increasing interest in the homes, the local government has the luxury of being selective.