I pay for heat in two of the units ($375/mo on average through winter, oil heat) I want it out of my name.

Oil worker country :) It did not require any repairs by the investor. 

LOL its funny people can put others in an others shoes and (seemingly) know every system/person.If snake oil fixes an ailment go for it...if a newspaper column, text book, word of mouth, an "experienced" investor or what ever "educated" person &/or program looks good & helps get a deal &/or exposed to something like BP...doing deals etc then why bash it?

Was laid off yesterday through a reduction-in-workforce at an Oil & Gas company.Did some math, and after cutting house cleaning and childcare expenses, I need to bring in $30,000 in after-tax rental income (depreciation EXCLUDED) to match my W2 job's take home pay.Thanks to what I learnt at Bigger Pockets, I will liquidate my low performing SFR in Wisconsin (0.4%) and invest in higher yielding (1+%) rentals in my area and easily make up the $30K.

Other factors, like title issues, environmental issues (asbestos, oil tanks, etc) can hinder the process.

Now if the economy weakens -- as we are starting to see here in Alberta with the drop in oil prices -- then sure, we could see that reflected in real estate prices.

The only thing I'm not crazy about is that the heat is not paid by the tenants (everything else is though) and it's oil heat.

In my city, everything is extremely reliant on oil prices.

With the crash of oil im looking at new ventures.

Houston economy is more diversified than it used to be in the 80s, when oil price crashed.