If you want a risk free way to break the ice in the real estate business you can try this. 

This ensured he got his price and the interest was the icing on the cake. 

You can try and cut the middle man out on a sub2 pre-foreclosure, but it's as tricky as trying to eat an ice cream cone in the pits of hell.

Taking a never ending vacation eating purple ube ice cream on some Pacific Island with my dog, the Duke of Wake.Joking aside. 

Appreciation will be low, and it would be harder to sell when / if the time comes (again, people point to that often times cheap houses sits on markets for months at a time, versus in seattle it sells like hot cakes)Upside of local investment is that it appears “safer” - I know the market, I can drive to it to make sure no one “Morris”ed me, and when the time comes to sell / 1031 - hey, it’s easy, and it most likely will come with good appreciation (I know, appreciation is not guaranteed; it’s icing on the cake).What would you guys do?

All while taking my family downtown for ice cream at Galveston's ArtWalk!!

If it makes it seem any worse, then we didn't find this out until AFTER I had let him go (in other words I let him go for other reasons but then found out he lost the key as the icing on the cake).You might just be right about having me eat the cost of the key now (I was going to re-key when she moved out anyway).

However, I view appreciation as icing on the cake.  

Sustainable cash flow was the real goal here for my first deal in KC, so getting my cash back would be icing on the cake.

I'd see if it makes sense as a long term place and consider STR the icing.