I appreciate your point about the trade-off of discounted rent for a stable income.

As long as they are stable neighborhoods and not declining, I'm ok with that. 

Don't get me wrong, the returns are very good and stable, and I am happy with them, but nothing like some of the stories you hear about on BP.

Dallas has two things going for it: Increasing population and a stable energy market.

Microsoft Excel - Can't live without itMicrosoft One Note - Keeping notes across multiple platforms, Evernote is a good option tooMicrosoft Power Point - For making pitch decks, Mac has competitive option too, can't remember the nameDropbox - Can't live without itChrome Browser - Most stable, ad free, light weightQuickbooks - I hate this software, but there is no alternative that accountants will accept without going to a multi-thousand dollar licensed big boy system

But I have 2 stable jobs and my wife does as well.

I prefer to go outside of Detroit where the markets are stable and the ROI is immediate.I could probably name 5 - 10 cities within a few miles of Detroit where you can get very fast returns (as in 100% CoCR +) with equity growth...that has a current track record of this happening.

Not to generalize too much, but my general notion is that in this area these families have fairly stable incomes.

For us, assuming a certain TI is tough because everything's a negotiation and we're looking long term and value stable tenants.

Partners & Self Directed IRAsThere are people with IRAs and lots of liquidity who might be stoked for a solid, stable and reasonable return.We had removed all contingencies on a property in 2011 and were days from closing.