I will also echo that I believe with the current real estate market, your best bet is to wait and only go after the big margin, no-brainer deals and to concentrate on paying off debt and building capital until we hit another downturn.That being said, if you know engineering isn't for you and are set on leaving that industry, I'd say find a mortgage lender/broker to work for.  

If you want to be a investor you will need to concentrate on first eliminating all bad credit debt.

I was concentrating on valpo and Chesterton and I figure Merrillville should be fine as well.

However, I will say when I started looking I was concentrating my search in areas with higher cashflow, trying to get that 2% rule that people talk about on these boards.  

Concentrating in steady streems of income is the way to financial freedom.

(I have been researching this a lot, read JScotts books as well as the book flip)I feel that I do need more general business knowledge (should have gotten a business degree, which is partly why I am considering going back to grad school to get a masters business degree with a real estate concentration)Skills, I am good at management and sales and negotiation . 

The reasons I've been doing so are that the Turkish economy is growing, but most importantly, the population of both Turkey and İstanbul is growing, and Istanbul is the largest city that concentrates many businesses, its a large tourist attraction, and will have the largest financial center moving from Ankara.

@Steve K. did an awesome job of talking about the micro aspects locally so I'm going to concentrate my aspects on the macro here, which trumps everything in my opinion.I imagine the poverty, crime (mentioned by Steve), the money laundering issues and the fact that the country is one of the favorite refuges for criminals of all sorts might be enough for most to stay away. 

Possibly not good for landlords in those specific markets depending on rental demand.   7k house unless concentrated all in one market is just a dimple on a pimple LOL.. this is a failed exercise by Zillow..

Networking opportunities, engaging speakers, good reference materials so that I don't have to concentrate so hard on taking notes.7) The least?