Low risk investments sell at a premium, that's the whole idea of cap rates.

@Caleb Brown I like your idea about buying as many properties as possible while we're young.

There are programs to find solds so that would be a good idea but an agent can pull directly from the MLS.

IF you plan on going back someday, and this is the home you want to move back to, then renting it would be a good idea as long as you estimate that it will cover itself, or preferably, cash flow, which it appears that yours will at @ $2K or so per month (after expenses). 

Foreclosure auction buyers cannot walk the property and have no idea of its condition.

Great idea. :)

You may want to first explore cities that you are already familiar with.Think of cities where you grew up, went to school, like to vacation to or see family.You will have a better idea of what the good / bad parts of town than a brand new city that you are unfamiliar with.Best of luck.

All this is, is a back of the envelope quick tool that gives you a very broad idea of whether or not an investment is actually worth looking further into.

It’s in pretty good shape at this point, rentable.I travel a lot for work, and a friend gave me the idea to do a short term rental as a one bedroom, locking all of my stuff in the other bedroom and office - I applied today and was denied because I don’t own both sides of my HPR, even though I have written permission from the owner of the other half….

The general idea is that you must acquire an interest in real property you do not already own, and since you already own the subject real property you want to build on, the transaction must be structured so that you are creating an interest in real property you do not already own (in fact, it does not yet exist).