That is just not realistic in this current market.So in my opinion it's important to expose yourself to a large number of deals, so you can develop an intuitive sense of what's reasonable and what's not (and quickly discard the ones that aren't).And it's true that there is no way to 100% protect from fraud (and not just in passive real estate investments but even in public stocks etc.).

Using AI ;-) the answer is ""Detroit has approximately 102,330 vacant housing units, which is 28% of the city's total housing stock."

I have some clients who prefer to have a PM for maintenance/contact/rent collection/general management and will place tenants and write leases for themselves in exchange for a reduced rate.  

It might cause me financial harm as I have to sell more stocks and might pay short term capital gains vs long term capital gains.

For example, a property in San Diego may lose $500 per month ($6,000 per year) but gain $60,000 per year in value, making it worthwhile to "lose" money each month in exchange for long-term gains.I recommend you start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free).

You can still do a 1031 exchange foreign to foreign asset.  

Your project will never turn out as good as it should because you are subject to what the stores have in stock at that very moment.3.

@Tyler Speelman, A 1031 exchange solves the tax issue. 

Your reinvestment targets for a 1031 exchange would have you purchasing $700K of replacement real estate using all $500K of equity. 

Properties are not like stocks where After IPO the market cap is so large that that most of the life changing appreciation is gone.