Supposed to sign the lease on Saturday but she had a friend text to tell me that her wallet and phone were stolen so she will not be home until Monday.

Did I mention the new appliances and AC got stolen so we had to buy those twice?  

It does not matter if you pay a point or two more or your interest rate is a little higher, you will have the confidence that you are not getting your identity stolen.

Two identical houses that are about 12 feet from each other and basically on the same lot.One is vacant, and has even been broken into and had wiring and pipes stolen.

I fixed up a 3bedroom/1 bath house that was had it's plumbing and AC stolen and the bathroom floor rotted out and I couldn't have created 100 GL entries without breaking out every receipt at a line item and every trip by itself. 

Someone had stolen all the breakers out of the panel so I had my buddy Nelson help to cobble it together enough to get it turned on.

Often it is because of a roof leak but many time the copper plumbing has been stolen and water ran until the city cut it off. 

Had one guest stay for 2 weeks and they apparently paid with a fraudulent/stolen credit card, VRBO approved the payment and stay.

I had learned how to sell options, how to remodel my house, how  to day trade, how to start a self directed ira, I started a Physical Therapy clinic, mined bitcoin, made a few websites, I think I may have even learned how to raise chickens/honeybees/ and grow organic vegetables. 

REI can and should be part of that - you can and will lose money; but you also can and will make money, just as you will on stocks, bonds, ETFs, precious metals, bitcoin, INSERT INVESTMENT VEHICLE HERE.