dljoka-at-kw-dot-com , His name is Daniel, he works for Keller William in Medford, i dealt with him on a property ( i never bought it ) but he responds to you and was very helpful, this was last year i dealt with him and i have not talked to him since then. just check where you are buying there, values change dramatically from one block to the next in some areas.

the biggest issues are that the available tenant base drops dramatically around October and doesn't pick up again till the end of the school year.People are no different than animals in that regard.They want to be settled and hunkered down in a property before the school year and/or bad weather starts.Quality tenants with good financial backgrounds don't want to move their families in the middle of an icy,snowy winter for obvious reasons,and good college students have already started school in August.Many of the few available tenants will have questionable backgrounds like recent job loss,previous eviction,bad credit,difficult income verification and don't make 3 times the rent,criminal records,etc.   

Northwest Indiana is only about 40 minutes from Chicago and the taxes are dramatically lower than Illinois.

Even forclosure auctions don't seem dramatically better.

Firstly, I expect your SAVINGS regime to increase dramatically!

Obviously the price point is dramatically lower than custom ordering to spec but if it's junk I'd rather not be burdened with replacing it again in the near future.Appreciate the feedback, thanks!

SOOOOOOO--- why would a "pro" dramatically over-pay?

I literally grew up watching the house prices rise, rise, rise and then dramatically fall in 2008.

This method won't increase my monthly cash flow much in immediate future, but as loans are paid down and hopefully appreciation occurs, my overall situation should improve dramatically. 

CA prime spots are a long term buy and hold play.. as we know the CA market is subject to some swings in values some can be dramatic.. but over time the state has shown some of the best performance in the entire US... but if your one who worries about value on a daily basis then RE can drive you nuts... if you have a long term investing horizon then you buy and hold and if and when we hit a trough you hold through the trough.. you only lose money when you sell at poor times.