I had a guy offer to give me a couple of muscle cars for the down payment on a house.

They want to sell it and pocket the cash because something else is breathing down their neck?

I also have rentals and they are pain in the neck.

Account Closed  while I understand your sentiment you also live and work in a market with excess housing.. houses that cost less than cars etc etc. .plus of course you have high end homes.But even dogs in our neck of the woods are 250 to 400k same thing you would pay 10 to 20k for in areas of Baltimore.. what works there does not work on the west coast.. while some of what you mentioned is certainly tried and true RE one oh one.. just a little different setting here Is all.Mary, if your serious about this you NEED your license just the savings when you buy and on the list side will create huge amounts of profit when your working in our markets.. plus you get instant access to MLS and you don't have to rely on anyone.. for the life of me I can't understand who anyone would not think its a benefit to be licensed in our market if your intent is to buy and resell homes that are in the 500 to 1 mil plus..

I'm in your neck of the woods so maybe we can get coffee sometime and talk SHOP :)

@John PrunierThanks for the real-world example in my neck of the woods.

Real estate investing is a new muscle you simply have to grow!

I personally live in a pretty affluent area myself (at least for our neck of the woods) with most houses selling in the $250 to $600K level or more. 

This way if anyone wants to "grab you by the neck", you personally and the other two entities are safe.You can always get fancier when you get your first income to pay an investor savvy attorney and CPA to help you strategize where to take your business from here.To get more answers on these strategies always search Bigger Pockets or the net to deepen your education.

Doing something when you make sure it looks good is a positive step, being careless and just jumping in to muddy waters results in neck injuries or worse. ;)Even when you make sure the numbers are good, way too many things can go wrong in a flip.