Now, in some areas it can get nasty, time consuming and if the deal isn't that fair or not in compliance the court can do a cram down, write down the amounts due, so a lender can get tagged. :)

I carry no consumer debt and still have my day job in which I can work essentially an unlimited amount of overtime to come up with quick cash.

Primarily law - federal and local.Just the way you communicate with a borrower is regulated.You may also be required by law to have a license.To enhance the success of investing in or participating in real estate finance also requires a more thorough ability to determine realistic real estate value and understand the future value.

I was told getting a variance will be difficult, time consuming and will require approvals of the community board.

I know in CA recent state laws designed to "protect the consumer" have made it nearly impossible for mortgage brokers to work with non-accredited trust deed investors thereby, in my view, releasing them to fall victim to real estate investors preying (wittingly or unwittingly) on the unsophisticated.

Could anyone to share with experience on this kind of investing and give an idea how long time it may consume to get in the field and see results?

I am looking for something that really gives a reasonably good cash-on-cash return yet is not too time consuming.

The problem is, the numbers aspect is just about where my knowledge ends -- if only RE investing were done on a spreadsheet and a telephone.It's pretty obvious that BP offers a very extensive resource, so I've taken the time to read all of the "newbie" articles, listen to each of the podcasts, and generally consumer about 90% of the information that you have on this site geared toward starting out, marketing, etc.

Same assumptions as above, the $80K loan payment of $480 consumes almost all of the $500 projected (back of the napkin using 50% rule) net cash flow prior to debt service.

I understand that a lot of investors don't want to deal with short sales due to the time & hassle involved. I know that banks take a long time to respond. That said, what else in the process causes a significan...