For instance, I recently did a search and compared Zillow's estimate with my own comps that I pulled on the area.

What is your projected IRR and how does that compare with other options like stocks or bonds?

The first thing you need to do is to research comparable prices in this area.

You can check with your state's corporation commission or comparable agency for the specific language.

Any advice or input greatly appreciated, since I am a newbie that never even own a home.My goal is to creat positive cash flow, and hopefully owning at least 5-15 properties in the next 5 years, be able to quit my full time job to spend more time with my family and be in this rewarding hobby call REI.BTW the cities I been looking at are:Buffalo, NY - But probably wont do it after I talked to a few people that still have families thereIthaca, NY - I am leaning forward to this but worries about an exit stragtegy if something was to go wrong since the last year I think only 135 homes were sold.Ohio - not sure where yet.John

The key thing to remember is that lenders will compare debt to income along with credit score.

It's rewarding to help people get the information FREE that everyone else charges big bucks for.

Based upon this data we are looking at a projection of over 50 Major Disasters to hit the US by the end of 2006In addition, we are still recovering from fires in California, Colorado, New New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.Yet, we are still going to have to deal with past Hurricane damage.And we still face dry conditions in various parts of the United States that produce fires and we have yet to step into the Atlantic hurricane season that lasts from June to November, with the peak season from mid-August to late October.On top of all this over 350 tornadoes have been recorded as of April and this could be one of the most active and deadly seasons in historyFor more data see: http://www.spc.noaa.gov and To compare from 2005 to 2006 see: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/online/monthly/index.htmlAs an investor we are tough to research property titles, market value and market trends but one major area that is left out is storm trends.Why storm trends.

In my area I find that the estimates on this website are too high, but it does give you recent (comparable) sales in the area which is useful.

We would enjoy having an investor or two reap the rewards when it is sold making a great % on their investment.