They are evil and an impediment to making money.

By house hacking It lets you get in the game with minimal money down (3-5%), while also covering your mortgage and gaining real-world landlord experience.

I Enjoyed the extra viewpoint.

Can't say I enjoy real estate, but enjoy what the money allows me to do :)

He spends the money and then you are presented with a 6K bill. 

My guestimate is that 500 to 1,000 of those properties were livable homes.The vast majority of those homeowners were only one year behind on their property taxes.There is no real money to be made from redemption of livable homes in Arizona though.

The only money we have going into the market is in our HSA.

Look at PM like homeowner's insurance- it seems like you are wasting money until your house burns down, they you'll be happy you "wasted" money on those premiums for years. 

@Olivia Blake how much money will you potentially lose by strong-arming a tenant and then having them break the lease early - or even just not renew?

If you had the opportunity to purchase a cash flowing property with no money down in a town of 500 that is 30 minutes from a metropolitan area of 130k in population, would you do it?