Throughout this entire time, I waited tables and bartended at night to pay rent.

If your goal is appreciation, you'll find markets that have very little cash flow (if any), and you won't realize your return until much later down the road when cash flow catches up or you sell the property.There are probably thousands of markets to invest in.

I never understood why people would have a flip, boost the value by tens of thousands of dollars, then sell it as opposed to keeping the equity and putting a tenant in there. 

So let’s say I wait another year and rent it out during that time. 

I've been waiting to finalize on a market first, but it couldn't hurt to get my name out there early! 

Play Opossum ".... help, I'm some corporate slave just feeling life slipping away in my 9-5 but I do make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year I just have nothing to do with, WHAT SHOULD I DO"..... 

I like the idea of live in flips, but it's something that I would wait until the kids are out of high school before I did it.

I guess I will just wait to see what umbrella quotes my broker can get. 

Thanks for readingDavid I would not buy anything right now, I would wait a year or so and see where prices are headed.

And, the longer you wait to act, the longer the squatter stays - and even gains some legal protections to stay while your waiting on a slow court system to act on an eviction.