Sometimes I think that I'm so anxious to get something going that maybe I should just start with any decently safe deal and get my feet wet- start getting some cash flow (even if it's trivial at first), start getting some equity via debt reduction, start getting some tax benefits, and maybe even some appreciation due the market slowly creeping upward.Maybe an OK deal would be better when started now v/s searching and waiting for that one diamond...

My real estate business and I are still very much works-in-progress.  12 years ago I was very interested in real estate....read a ton of books....formed an LLC...farmed a neighborhood...even talked to the postman about a certain "diamond in the rough" house. 

I attended the Bob Diamond's shop in the past, I wasted my money on it, it is harder to do to find the owner and get them to agreed to you  to go forward to getting their property's sale money. 

Besides that you want to check out the Black Diamond meeting in Waltham (2nd location in Worcester) as well.  

Diamonds in the rough ..or best to avoid them, especially for a newbie?

I'd like to have the deck jacked up, and put diamond piers, helical piers, screw piles, or whatever under there to keep it from sinking further, and so I can make minor repairs to the deck. 

I look at it as a "Diamond in the Rough"

Hi Ana well is hard to invest far from home we all know that for the obvious risk i think you should focus in a good property manager or person capable to manage situations on your property maybe a cousin interested in make a few extra bucks maybe you can stay in miami and focus in a different asset SF or Condo remember there us always diamonds in our backyard we just can't see it, good luck and happy investing 😊

Looks like you found a real diamond in the rough, or rather, the trash!

This may be more of a unique situation, a diamond in the rough if you will, as depending on the value of the home and the balance of the loan you may not be able to find many first liens with what seems to be likely a large discount, even for non-performing loans.