Many have already moved to the city and engage in very menial jobs and live in squalid conditions.

Almost all of the houses were in Warren and not in bad condition.

Long story short, the last family I rented to did a tremendous amount of damage to the house and I ended up putting about $20,000 into it to get it back in move-in condition (May-Sep 2011).3) House has been listed for sale since Sep 2011.

Important to consider proximity, beds/baths, condition when making any comparison.Also, you need to consider selling costs.

That home was in much better condition, but had much less land.The land this time is in 'shale country' and they did get an offer for a drilling lease which they turned down - so that may add some value, but not much, gas prices have plummeted since and I think the gas companies are not running around leasing every inch of land anymore.They plan to upgrade the homeowners to 'vacant homeowners' in case the pipes and wiring are stolen - but it would still be a huge hassle.I know for sure they have no problem that a purchaser might be getting 'a deal'.

Long story short, you don't need exact comps, but you want them to be relatively close in terms of age, condition, size, style, etc.

. - What is the condition of the house?

2 rooms of carpet were totally ruined and had to be replaced, there was dirt and cobwebs in all of the bedrooms, windows had been left open and rainwater allowed to come in and stain the walls, hundreds of gouges and anchors left in the walls, oven dirty, floor and wall behind stove and refrigerator had a half inch of dust, dirt and food, etc, etc, etc.So, needless to say, I've had to spend a considerable amount of time and money getting the place back into rentable condition.

I personally feel a Real Estate License would help with meeting many other investors (socially / business contacts)I have learned a lot by studying for my real estate license me personally~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I plan to put on my big boy underwear and schedule my exam after I’m done volunteering for Habitat of Humanity this week{ local builder week }I’m trying to determine, if it would be best to start out as REO / BPO or everyday agentMeaning - which option would I need a smaller marketing budget and be effectiveMy concern – every agent I have met in the last 8 years seem overly stress Real Estate license will help with seeing both sides of potential deals ( Wholesaler versus Agent Disclosures )

This even makes file keeping even easier because I don't have to have files locked and highly encrypted/secure because they have social security numbers on them.The problem: I never get the social security number once they become a tenant.