I'm trying to get back to my roots but not look at it from just muscling my way to frugality but from a minimalist lens where I really do not need much stuff to have a wonderful life.

I'm going to throw my 2 cents in here: All things considered, we can go back to the root definition of investing:  invest [in-vest] Examples Word Origin verb (used with object) 1.

The seller had conveniently failed to disclose the frequent roto rooter calls to unplug the sewer line that was penetrated by tree roots.

I just had a clogged sewer line that broke, 5 1/2 hours of auguring out roots (1 1/2 with root rooter, and 4 with a local company) and $800 later, I made sure to get the camera inspection of the entire line when they were done.  

If they don't have their "roots" here and haven't been in this market for anymore than a year how do they have any idea what a property is worth?

Your story is inspirational and I am rooting for you!

The water heater went, the stove failed, the washer/dryer broke, a root grew into the sewer line and backed up pressure so that the cap blew off the sewer pipe in the crawl space, so we were flushing everything into the crawlspace......expensive clean up! 

The BP tribe is here and rooting for you. :)

I talk a lot about this in the book, but here are my general thoughts...A lot of real estate investors who have come along since 2008 tend to think about real estate being the root cause of any market downtown -- in 2008, the mortgage crisis destroyed the economy and they assume this is how it typically works. 

I’m rooting for everyone!