There are very few sellers of notes right now, so who are you buying and selling too.You are going to be sadly dissappointed and realize after 3-6 months you probably wasted your money.Your best bet is to join some groups on FB or elsewhere and start to learn that way.Let me ask you this question: Have you spoken to any note investor out there to ask them about the environment today to actually get into notes? 

My bet is both those will be redeemed prior to auction.  

Even still, investors will often want equity in the projects.Giving equity to private investors can hedge your bet.

Details here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/1214849-dmv-...I recommend checking them all out initially, I bet you'll have a lot of fun networking!

I'm pretty flexible with what flooring goes down - Carpet, sticky tile, painted concrete, etc.

In Metro Detroit area, police will not remove these types of occupants (they are afraid of scamming landlord having police remove legal tenants), calling them a "civil matter" forcing landlord to start court eviction process. thats a good question Drew.. but I bet if the police are aloud just a little bit of fact checking and do police work they can determine the fraud very quickly.. 

Investing in real estate with after-tax dollars provides flexibility, leveraging, and tax benefits like depreciation, but involves an upfront tax hit if cashing out a 401(k).

Many of the BP podcasts are from a pretty young perspective, both in terms of flexibility and maybe even priorities.  

If the real estate is producing a steady return, you can make more aggressive bets with stocks or other alt assets.

Out of state may be your best bet, everyone on this thread has suggested great markets.