There are so many different ways to enter this realm nowadays.

I was told by a broker that nowadays foreclosures and short sales don't provide much of the expected discounts from retail price.

I am not in Detroit (however, I do go out there a occasionally since my husband is from there), but nowadays with email, google docs, FaceTime, you can work with almost everyone anywhere.

The manufacturers of Traditional Self-Storage Buildings (Trachte, Betco, Janus, Mako, USC, etc.) also build portable units that can be delivered already assembled, or erected on-site.  

People nowadays opt for the companies having a good reputation along with good ratings and reviews.

The other topic that's of high interest to me right now is how is the RE community adapting to the inbound marketing concepts that are all the rage nowadays.  

@Jay Hinrichs and @Gaurav MohileWhile you may be right that 20% cash returns may not be easy to find for most investors nowadays, 10-15% still seems pretty good to me.

The lowest bid I've had on the project is around $16,500 for the concrete and garage erection. 

Sean Terry interviewed him on his podcast #64, a very thorough discussion of his method which revolves around marketing to landlords  (a very saturated group nowadays).Anson Young talks about it in his bp podcast and Rob Swanson has a course on it that I haven't seen but he's interviewed by JP Moses on Moses' website. 

As long as you can erect hurdles that make it harder for someone to decide to sue, that's really the bottom line.