And keep in mind; getting sold and getting informed are 2 very different things.

I'm am running into a lot of properties that the MLS says it sold for less than $5,000 dollars.

I have sold a couple of businesses as well, and speaking from experience, you are never more vulnerable to make a mistake than when you are sitting on a giant pile of cash.Also, I agree with @Corey Conklin - I'm a big fan of "overflow cities/towns" in the sun belt.

They are also useful for private phone conversations and could be used for storage of valuables as they could be locked.I'd love to be able to broach this idea with other nationalities and cultures but it's really hard if they're not working very long hours and have hours of free time at home.  

.- If you hold a rental until death, you can pass it on with a stepped-up cost basis, limiting captial gains if then sold (limited by inheritance tax limitations).Too many newbies on this site trying to replace their day job income via "passive" real estate investing w/o digging deep enough to understand how it really works.

The data they pull from the tax records on how much a home last sold for, often not updated, or completely wrong.

Question: Should I collateralize the loan (if using private or hard money), or rely on roll-over loans (to maximize the lower points and 3-4% rate)?

I started listing the homes one by one as they became vacant, and we were doing okay with getting them sold - in 2012, that was no small task.Jeff called me one day and asked me for CMAs on the next few properties that would be coming up.

There is no additional "risk" on the note like a demand clause etc, but you have  extra expense in upfront one time costs and the pre-payment penalty that most programs are sold with if rates do drop as expected in the future.  

For example, if the land was inherited with a value of $1,000,000 in 2017 and you split off 12 lots that sold for $200k each.