I'm also in Barre and have a good grasp on the local market here.

A better strategy is to buy right and that will take more research and due diligence including gaining a grasp of the unique attributes of the neighborhood you select.

Yes I agree with above comments, get involved with REIA groups to get a good grasp of the market.

But a lot of people have a hard time grasping the concept.Consider your down payment and monthly payments on your rental the 'cost' of your 'product or service'. and your product or service of course, being rent. to have positive cash flow/profits, you need to sell your product for more than it costs you each month.with the down payments you are considering, I think you'd do better looking further south, towards Tacoma, or maybe south King County if you perfer (although Enumclaw I think is more inflated than other So.

Use a good agent to get a firm grasp on what you have to disclose. 

He makes more money than he normally would have, and you earn more at the cost of funding the rehab.Just make sure that you have a firm grasp of what the rehab costs will be, along with the true ARV of the property.

I feel like I was able to grasp topics pretty deep before moving on unlike the in person classes that cram everything quickly.

@Brittany Minger It definitely seems like you have a solid grasp on things!

I crept into my first rental by buying a new primary and renting my previous townhouse so I already knew the house inside and out and had a grasp on the capex items and limited my risk that way.

First time I would be investing in tax certificates, and only have a grasp on them from extended reading and would like to talk to someone with real world experience before investing.Thanks!