Now I get to sit back, relax and collect $2300/mo in rent plus about $100k instant equity because of how the market is over there.

Maybe sit down with a good cup of coffee when you can really focus on it.Good Luck!

The problem is that it take far more effort to LIVE that dream that it is to wake up from that Dream.I teach Real Estate Investing on the side and I will tell you 95% of the students are sitting in class dreaming or pretending that they are improving their lives just by attending the class.In the end, they don't really study.I give a Spreadsheet exam at the end of a 12 week / 1 class per week session on building a 10 Year Pro-Forma business plan for your Real Estate and I will tell you 95% fail out right.Being in class is more about dreaming than it is about putting in the effort to learn the skills to be an Investor.

Its got to be better than sitting at a job. 

And if there are a lot of vacant homes, there must be a lot of people willing to sell, since the homes are just sitting there empty.

Well, I'm not gonna beat you to leave you sitting there in pain.

IE its common in so many areas that the 500k home in Wis sits on a 75k or 100k lot and 300 to 400k is the cost to construct say at 150 to 200 a foot..

From the assessor's site, the land-use records show that the encroaching property owner has only been paying taxes for their plotted land, while the subject property has been paying the taxes for land on which the other’s building partially sits.

By prioritizing fundamentals over chasing ROI benchmarks, he’s now sitting on an asset that’s appreciated 30% and maintained strong cash flow.Personally, I once miscalculated reserves on a triplex I bought early in my career.

And Scott's answer would be: because no one who wants to buy a house in those areas has 40,000-50,000 cash sitting in their bank accounts.