In fact, I am sure that "your reality" offers far more evidence that proves true than "my reality" (most or alot of people do fail in real estate), but to the select few out their that realize that this is not our practice life, and cannot wait around for 45 years till retirement, I would highly encourage you to start following your real estate dreams today.Yes there is a decent learning curve to real estate, and market conditions do change, but a good investor changes with the seasons, just as no farmer plants his corn in the winter, you need to adjust your investment ideas to meet your market conditions.

When sprayed on pipe joints, the mixture will bubble where a leak is.

Ideally, I'd like to pursue a mixture to create a balanced portfolio.I'm very interested to hear insights from others who have invested in these areas. 

As Brian said, the Columbus guys will peddle their wares to you on here hard and heavy (they already have started, it seems), as they seem to equate population growth [driven largely by annexation literally all the way out to corn fields] as the end all be all and ignore legitimately important things such as per capita GDP, or a comprehensive view of the full MSA.

And with a mixture of old cabins, new developments, lake front properties I can understand pricing all over the map.

We got started doing a mixture of both.

i agree with @rick@Rick Baggenstoss undefined when new development comes to these areas it puts a sense of excitement in the people that live in area. the risk comes in your ability to weed out the tenants that will be long term and be there for a while verse the tenants that will not pay on time or at all and won't be there for long for one reason or another. i personally prefer nurses or someone with a more stable job then a temp agency or kmart can offer. i also look for what kind of car they drive. its newer they might have a loan out which is a sign of a more stable income. also how long where they at their last address 3 years or more is a good sign. but even with all that under their belt the more personally issues might make them a headache to rent to.in regards to most "warzones" being black is entirely untrue. most are a mixture of all race. the term warzone comes from the crime rate within the city not the neighborhood and condition of the buildings within. there are some great people with these buildings that make great tenants and live very stable lives. thousand of diffrent situations that make them bad tenants and good tenants. your screening process makes all the difference in these areas but thats still no reason to shy away from them. real estate investing is suppose to be challenging and if your in it for just the easy deal minus the tuff then your in the wrong game.

@Dominika MI have a mixture of different types of tenants:Families: 3Single-moms: 3Couples without children: 4Not sure what they want exactly, but I do know one of my family tenants want to buy their own home someday, yet just bought a new SUV this past year.

Wher did this corn cob come from?

How can a mixture legitimately work?