Sorry for my ignorance, I was wondering if there are any war zones / section 8 strong holds in Austin or the immediate area.

@Jason Dalka Interesting that you mention Short North...I just saw an anniversary article about how the Short North Posse was the last gang with a stronghold in the area...the cops smoked them out and it was a 2-year effort to arrest them all after they relocated to Italian Village/Weinland Park.I hear you on the Cleveland front...I am pulling for the city to make a recovery (same with Dayton), but the driver for sustainable transition is yet to be discovered.

This often helps them secure lending, insurance or a better stronghold when investing out of state.

I started doing flips using a Hard Money Lender my family new.I grew my my equity, and all does Wholesalers, flippers I new from the flipping deals, And started sending email of my rates and deals etc and boom got a lawyer got a good contract and Done 3-4 HML deals even do its not my stronghold it's a great source of income.

The underlying corrupt money-making system on their backs is the stronghold of the problem.

-Find a wholesaler who has a stronghold on this market and get a deal executed!

A private MLS for agents will likely be something that technology could change pretty quickly if the commissions lose their stronghold or a big enough player comes in to change it.  

I know @Jackie Lange   @Jay Hinrichs    is there,Jay have you ever thought of Master leases in American strong holds such as Belize, Costa Rica, Panama?

While I understand your point, I do think that having a strong hold on what the most current FMV is for and B/H property is important for three reasons:Metrics, negotiating, making money when I buyBut, I agree 100% about becoming my own appraiser, and had not thought of using the closing sales data as a proxy for comps.

Ok, yes we can use RTM, but not for everything, at some point in time, we need boots on the groundUtility managementLegislative (I feel like we are being turned into a somewhat of communistic world) told what we can do with our own properties that we own, pay taxes on, pay insurance and maintenance etc…Lack of choices on landlord insurance( sky high costs)Lack of affordable housing, with a stronghold on choices and change from very old laws in place for zoningThese are a few that I could think off the top of mind!