That being said, there are neighborhoods just outside the city that have HUGE upside potential, and still provide opportunities to purchase properties at a discount.  

Some lenders do their own appraisals and inspections and others use outside inspectors and inspectors.

I'm actively seeking a home to flip just outside of Austin.

I want to invest in real estate, but I can't right now, because I have divorced recently, relocated to a different state and haven't worked an outside job in 13 years.

I lived and sold Real Estate in the mountains outside of Denver for 10 years... stunning country, but getting into that market at the moment would be daunting.  

Having been through 2 market corrections, I too am looking almost exclusively outside the major metro areas as pricing in places like Austin has gone well beyond market fundamentals. 

I found out about it through an outside webpage that gave me Brandon's book as a top read in the real estate category; I snagged it on Audible and listened to it within a couple days!

I could see how buying it would dip into savings and possibly wipe them out, but outside of the small renovation and unoccupied period, how does a cash flowing rental obliterate your savings rate?  

We have members of our Fund that invested their IRA into our fund for passive income since the returns are high and then they went out and did Real Estate outside their IRA to increase their current income.  

That is your protection - if they behave outside of that, they are NOT a service dog.