I have been doing some reading on it but I would prefer to talk with someone who is doing it to get their perspective on several aspects of it including ease of purchase, maintenance, tax issues, foreign ownership rules, entities, etc.

I prefer to buy distressed properties, fix them up and hold.

Just make sure the total cash flow increases after investing the refinanced money.Property 1 was cashflowing +250, after refinancing starts losing 50 a month, if the new property cash flows +500, your new total cash flow is now +400, almost double than before, I would do this any time.Also, its preferable that you buy properties that cash flow or at least break even with 100% financing, that is now one of my parameters on my investments, it forces you to be patient and wait for the best deal possible, it makes the investment safer even if something goes wrong.

Preferably I was looking in middle class areas but seems like every thing is over priced or sold by now.

@Gerald Harris I definitely would say running a comps search in MLS (preferably 9 months back) would give you "real" cash buyers to call on.

I'd much prefer if The Millionaire Next Door was the top recommended book - its written by a statistician and is backed up by real data.

All things being equal ( location, schools, etc) is new construction ever preferable to purchasing older homes at good prices?

In my area you can add a nice master suite if done with good taste and it can add tremendous equity.

For the buy and hold properties, I prefer locations in northern California and northern Nevada.

Hi Andre -Of the local wholesalers I've connected with, I've seen it all, but this tends to be what's most common in my experience from them:-Use a flat $25,000 for all properties-Take a completely uneducated and wild guess-Partner with a GC or good handyman to estimateI prefer when they use option 3 personally :)