So while it pays to be choosy, you are never going to make any money in real estate if you never get involved, i.e. if you never purchase something.Leaning on my stock, options and futures trading experience, these sorts of investors are akin to those in that world suffering from analysis paralysis.

Someone who has suffered through the crash and still investing today should be pretty smart and conservative enough.I can refer you an expat - he is a US citizen working in Bangkok (used to work in HK as a finance executive) - and he will tell you how he was able to build a sizable portfolio of properties in the US even while living abroad.

Like Account Closed said, don't allow your military career to suffer because of it.  

Let us say for the sake of argument that the owners had no fire insurance and they are suffering a total loss of their residence.

Yes your free cash-flow may suffer a little in the short term.

The agent you speak of is probobly suffering from fatigue from you.

It's crazy how much of my valuation hinges on this one number, and now that I'm getting ready to put in offers, I'm starting to realize that my model will suffer from serious GIGO (Garbage in garbage out) if I can't nail down rental comps.

Oh, sorry Jerry, I did stop by your house and suffered a horrible fall.

Most subdivisions in Metro Atlanta are conforming ones only to their respective subdivisions, which means you'll find a subdivision of contemporary homes built in the '70's selling in the mid 200's sitting right next to a subdivision of traditional homes in the $600's sitting right next to a distressed subdivision in the low $100's suffering from a 6-month 50% foreclosure rate, all with totally different rent rates.

If you place family as a priority your business will suffer.