If the contractor did a good job, it is highly unlikely that this thing sticking out of the floor is not his doing, it could also go the other way that he didn't monitor his subs and did this issue, who knows.

Hey BP, I am a relatively new real estate investor and I was curious as to how you guys monitor market conditions and cycles in your areas.

Well worth watching the video linkLandlord dropped the ball and should have kicked them out sooner or called city inspector out to monitor the situation when he suspected the issue was a health problem.

I would start researching and monitoring the market of the area you are moving to every day.

If you want to wholesale or do fix and flip, you need to buy them at wholesale prices and since our market is so competitive here in South Florida, you have to do direct marketing or have an agent literally study the MLS 24/7 and monitor properties that have significant price drops and study patterns.

I will monitor the topic and let me know what you find out.

We have access to an automated valuation system similar to what banks use to monitor their loan portfolios.

The only thing that has worked for me is putting monitored, wireless alarm systems into each one of my houses. 

You can monitor "Oakland Meetup" if you want them to pop up, Johnson H. will post one in SF, and Troy Fisher will be hosting some in Santa Cruz I believe.

I'm sure he probably runs a syndication/fund that has bought bulk REOs from banks and servicers over the past 5 years, that would be my guess.I'd be interested in how he manages them effectively at such scale, what profitability and performance metrics he monitors on an ongoing basis, what are his buying criteria, how does he evaluate lots of properties site unseen, etc.