I've seen first-hand that the national guys are making it really tough for investors, while the local guys are doing as they've always done, but have clamped down a tad.Thoughts?

We do our own property management and remodeling, using subs as needed or required by code.We each have “regular jobs” and have always considered the rentals and a “hobby that has gotten out of hand”.

But you can hand write them if you wish, but would the seller or the new buyer really trust a hand written contract.

It was actually a little creepy.Then he handed me his card and told me to give him a call.Oh, and, no questions about the house what-so-ever.

We only had a partial hand in the May meeting but it went much better.

On the other hand, buying a property near market value with negative cash flow and hoping for future appreciation carries a much higher risk.

We are working with a few lenders right now that are very slow to get going and are costing us deals and money, let me know if anyone is in the area or can give a hand in pointing us in the direction we need to go from here.

On the other hand, if they can see you have a pile of cash in the bank or other assets, they may well try to get you to make up the difference.A related action that can happen is to be given a 1099 for the shortage.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you -- getting started in real estate with a bunch of cash on-hand...I've been doing a lot of research over the past several months, and have decided to focus on apartments (buy and hold) for several reasons, with economies of scale and the ability to outsource management being the two big reasons.

Usually I'm kind of "Mr. Know-It-All, but it's been 15 years since I bought an REO and I'm pretty sure the ground rules have changed a bit.

I'm looking at a couple of SFHs in my area, $150K range, ARVs in the low $20...