The gross rents are 2,275, Taxes- 150, insurance 125, utilities (water and electricity for hot water heater and common area) 260. 

Floor had to be leveled out and then fixed again later after a hot water line burst under the house.

Holding cash is viewed as holding a hot potato.

Some of the areas actually didn't decline during the housing collapse which would really make for an interesting macro economic study.Last year demand was fairly moderate in the suburbs, city is always hot, this year is looking to be hot though in the suburbs.

IRS allows you to calculate donations at the "fair market value" but it must in at least good condition, something tells me stuff left in an trailer for 5 years with no utilities on would have little to no value.See excerpt from IRS Publication 561The FMV of used household goods, such as furniture, appliances, and linens, is usually much lower than the price paid when new.

Paint and paper, fine.What I have been finding is that the real estate market here is heated to the point where this is easier said than done.Are other Atlanta investors finding the market too hot to handle, or am I jus too cheap?

If investing in the Bay Area is so unappealing, why is the market so hot?

You have a few hot shots out there but most I've met are entrepreneurial types with a mean independent streak. 

My wife's aunt owns a home up in Washington (we're in LA- way too hot for us to start investing here).

I converted a primary into a rental in 2013 in King county east of Seattle, has been very hot.