Home prices in the Bay Area remained robust in May, with the region’s median price spiking 16.4 percent from $935,000 in May 2017 to $1,088,000.

I'd like to see the community in a better light, as there are some terrible properties with major drug and alcohol problems next door and surrounding these properties; not even sure I can see a 3% appreciation. 

Something else about these countries further up the list....a lower drinking age and a much higher cultural tendency to daily moderate consumption of alcohol.

Birmingham's greatest addition in the past few years has been....alcohol!!!!  

Firearms, ammo, drugs and alcohol will be the units of trade.

Of course that doesn't include fun money for eating out, cable, alcohol, toys and the like.

We live in a vacation city in the mountains of NC, robust tourism, and around 4 million visitors annually.  

This is the most basic of the provisions that should be in the instructions, but it usually is much more robust than just that. - a closing protection letter from the escrow agent. - a Promissory Note between you and the Borrower stating the amount of the loan, the amount of interest you would earn, the amount of points you would earn, the time period within which the note must be repaid, and the remedy for not repaying the note on time. - you may want to have the Borrower pre-sign a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure in the event the note isn't re-paid as agreed to in the Promissory Note so you can avoid the foreclosure process.If you are loaning for longer than one day at the same title company: - a decent spread - maybe 80% - in the value of the loan you are giving and the current value of the home (NOT the ARV). - homeowners insurance on the property naming you as additionally insured - an appraisal that shows the value of the home, completed by a licensed appraiser - an inspection that shows all the flaws in the home not necessarily revealed by an appraisal - a statement from the county assessor's office showing the most recent assessed value of the home - a copy of the HUD1 settlement statement - a copy of the title work runThe last two items you won't get until closer to closing, but the previous items can help you evaluate if you want to do a deal in the first place.

It's very robust software that multi-million dollar companies use.

But they also offer stability and a chance to build robust systems.