One of the constants that I still see from when I first started on BP in early 2016 is the willingness of experienced ( some on this very thread ) folks in different aspects of real estate to try and help newbies and others with advice and perspective.I think it really is a testament to the fact that even though the investing environment has undergone many changes over those years the willingness to continue to help others has not changed.It helped me tremendously when I had to crash course on small MF ownership and I am grateful to all who helped with posts that they didn't even know that I had read and learned from.And yes the search function remains fairly useless and unchanged in that regard since then to the detriment of us all.

@Albert Hepp the flawed logic your using to state there must be some conspiratorial aspect to commissions because commissions are all but uniformed over 2%.....We can apply that exact flawed logic to Apples at grocery stores and say since apples, at every grocery store are uniformed at a price over $0.10 a piece, it "must be a conspiracy"........Take off the tinfoil hat. 

Also, fly out to visit the market, tour properties, and understand the local landscape before committing.Indianapolis offers a mix of opportunities for cash flow and appreciation, so defining your investment goals is key.

I believe it is a larger issue than what we define as the economy, which is mostly measured in corporate profits and Wall Street performance, this is not what the average person perceives.

The things that you can do, include being properly capitalized, not be greedy, (in whichever way that may be defined in the county you are buying), know solicitation laws, know Dodd-Frank, the Consumer Protection Act, the S.A.F.E.

I agree with what @Jaycee Greene said, having local connections accelerates all aspects of out of state investing.

That's actually a great aspect of real estate, if things don't go as planned, wait it out!

My point is define Relatively what circumstances are you inferring?  

Point is, (a) it's all but impossible for the investment to go to $0 and (b) you have direct, impactful CONTROL of outcome. 2nd: Back to the CONTROL aspect.

Scam from day 1.Now some investments can fall between there numbers, or have aspects of 2 or more.