Hi @Daniel Gabler,If you're new, your first move should either be within a 2 hour drive of where you live/work, OR if out of state then within 30 minutes or so of blood relatives that you are in frequent contact with.Rules and GRMs and all that move the needle very little compared to the cost of an abusive/negligent OOS prop manager, an eviction, or anything similar to that. 

Derek,We're around but spread much thinner for obvious reasons.

Margins are thinner and prices higher.

I'm not happy with my typical 9-5 routine, traveling (for work) for weeks if not months at a time, and more than anything how little there is to show for all the hard work I'm doing to make other people money.In many respects REI is in my blood - my grandfather, uncle, and cousin have all made sizable fortunes through REI but unfortunately I haven't gotten the bug until now.

I have know some folks to cheat the system, and that boils my blood, but those who are doing the right thing have the Soldier and Sailor Act to fall back on preventing landlords to take advantage of them.

Realtors and contractors are promoting the slumlord experience, eg never investing in the property, and extracting every bit of blood out of the house you possibly can etc.This works well in the short term, but when it's time to dispose of the asset, people will look at your manky horrible windows and knock you for them.But then replacement won't be $6k by that time, they'll be $10k, and the buyer will knock you $15k on the price - because they can.Don't fall into the trap "it's just a rental".

Margins are getting thinner.

The margins will be thinner on that one, because it's down to the studs.

You use $60K of that to pay off the underlying note and pocket the remaining $10K.Still too risky for my blood, but I suppose that might work.

There's a few ways to approach residential cash-flow investing... buy-hold an asset and make spreads over time that slowly build OR jump into a discounted situation and add the value by casting the vision, doing the work/repairs, turning that $2400/mo cash flow into much more and getting rewarded for all your blood/sweat/tears/RISK.