You're an investor, not a retail buyer.I really believe it depends on a lot of factors (i.e. area, price of homes, etc).

You guys don't know me from nothing but are willing to give very important info.To track down that lender would have taken forever to find that place.Again I thank you all and maybe in the future I can pay it forward on this site to others.

As your experience and confidence grows you will be able to search through more distant markets, but as you said that you are just starting, I believe the best advice is to being by investing locally.Though other markets may offer a higher return, make sure you factor in the additional costs.

Physical inspections are the obvious determining factor and replacing strictly on a schedule will waste money, replacing before it leaks will save money.

I did inform both tenants that I was also selling the property so there was no deception on my part.I called my realtor and told him I was heading in the rent direction with this property, and if either of the 2 party's interested in purchasing the house didn't make a solid offer I was going to rent it by the end of this week.Yesterday I got an offer for the 86k guy for 102k less 3k in cc and no other concessions.I signed the offer and will profit $17k on this flip.There where 2 factors that made me decide to sell rather than rent,1.

Take forever to decide on a property, don't let anyone rush you.

That would be my biggest problem.Not sure what the repercussions would be in terms of the rent factor.

(The hud closing process takes FOREVER.)

for a newbie ..the best property is the one that you can access as many times as possible before you close. having the property under contract and "acting" as an owner, contractors will talk to you ..you can get bids, quotes, do inspections, termite letters, radon tests, mold test, etc ...imagine bringing army of inspectors when an owner still lives there ..not possible. you control purchase price ...so make sure you factor all things you need to change, add, update into ur costs ...u need to discover as much stuff as possible. once u do 10 flips ..probably short 10 minute walk will be enough to get u rough idea ..but by that time ...inspect, inspect, inspect

If you plan on living there forever than i would buy on what YOU want.