What the underwriter is going to be thinking if the account she is looking at constantly dips below/above the cash to close + reserves number: "Oh, so he's gambling with his home buying money.

And the chances of that happening may be low, but you still have to be cognizant that it is a gamble.

Unless you were here in the crash, none of the cashflow numbers make sense, and buying for an appreciation play is a crapshoot - if you're going to gamble, roulette is a lot more fun.

You can make money in four ways:Cash FlowAppreciation (gambling)AmortizationTax ShelterIf you are holding this for the long term and it's in a good consolidated area, you  should be ok.

I'm working for CBRE, I specialize in buy side services for offshore investors.Btw a lot of activity in the Hotel market with the institutionals.

Sure, if you can easily afford to gamble on continued regular appreciation and/or improved rental income, then you might get away with it.But in principle, unless it still shows SOME positive cash flow even when leveraged at 75%, my advice would be: look elsewhere!

For me that would mean that the property would need to cash flow as a long term rental with a reasonable down payment as plan B and/or had a value add play to get a quick forced appreciation equity bump to sell at profit or cushion against a drop in prices as plan C ... and last I checked, this didn't seem to be easy to pull off in Big Bear (or nearly anywhere else in SoCal) at the moment ... doesn't mean it can't be done, just means it takes more skill, discipline, and hard work to get it done today with this safety cushion rather than forcing a deal which can quickly degenerate into gambling. 

There are plenty of disadvantages to my structure for someone who requires individual vesting for conventional bank loan qualifications and other will probably argue that the asset protection level is lower than other offshore strategies (true) however I'm a stand up guy and don't run from trouble.Best advise: keep it simple for now and focus on deal flow (and cash flow) until you have something to protect from taxman and the crazy people.

Casino Night The IMHA PAC is sponsoring a casino night of gambling with attendees using free chips that will give them the chance to win even more chips which can be used to win over $25,000 in prizes.On Thursday May 19thGeorge Allen will moderate a panel of female community owners who will share some of their strategies and take questions from the audience.Pam Danner the head of the Manufactured Housing Division of HUD will be sharing information on all the changes, including their new installation program and rules along with several members of her staff.A panel discussion between two major retailers and two community owners discussing how independent retailers can work with community owners who do not have their own sales operations to the benefits of both with questions and answers from the audience.Annual Meeting of the Membership.If this sounds like a great place for you to be, just Google the Illinois Manufactured Housing Association and go to their website for more information and to register to attend.

There are a few areas like Oak Park and Old North Sacramento that are going through a bit of a gentrification phase, but it can be a gamble because there's lots of riff-raff to be seen in those areas as well.