If you're gonna do it, just commit all the way until you can monetize it (They told JK Rowling the same thing right?).

@Brian Rowles   Did you give either a try. 

@Brian Rowles I wouldn't.

@Brian Rowles Try contacting the home owner and see if you can get them to agree to a short sale with the approval of their lender.

Rowling is worth $1 billion  Both RK & DR make most of their money from the information business, Neither of them is in the Forbes 400 richest people in the US.

I could probably name 100s of people I know personally or have met in one way or another that became super wealthy investing in real estate....if you don't know any, you can find plenty of books or writings about them....in Dallas...Craig Hall, Trammell Crow, Jerry Jones, Lamar Hunt, Lucy Billingslea, Ross Perot Sr/Jr, Robert Rowling, Tim Headington, John Golf, Jim Lake, Mehrdad Moayedi, Duke Rudman, Robert Dedman, Conrad Hilton, Ray Nasher, Roger Stalbach, Jack Matthews, and the list goes on....many of these are billionaires, and probably the others are 8# or 9# millionaires....and there are plenty 100s of other "smaller" multi-millionaires that started or invested in small real estate ventures in Dallas area. 

Quote from @Storm Rowles: Quote from @William Strickland: Hi BP community,Long story short, I have had the vision in my mind for a long time that I would get into real estate and that has grown to be a fairly lofty goal with how big it has gotten.

@Storm Rowles,Congrats on the degree and getting started!

Julia Rowling its SOP  (standard operating procedures) to not put any appliance's in these homes until the tenant moves in.. same with HVAC some times  condenser unit water heater etc etc.If you install them new and leave them for any length of time they will get stolen nearly 100% of the  time... this is why I have said many times that these types of investments just are not appropriate for anyone who does not do this for a living...

Julia Rowling "never"again", As An Investment, I echo these sentiments after having sold my personal condo earlier this year.