Done correctly, these properties offer fail-proof investing – plus the income (rents) is indexed to regular living costs, which provides protection against inflation.

-You stop being invited to events by your regular friends...

The advantage is that this is clean and easy and you're done with the transaction.

I remember paying ~$1.00 for a gallon of the regular stuff.

FHA mortgage insurance is not free: borrowers pay an up-front insurance premium (which may be financed) at the time of purchase, as well as monthly premiums that are not financed, but instead are added to the regular mortgage payment. -- Some fees are limited.

It really does give you a financial freedom that a regular nine to five job can't give.

When one of these tenants is a 'good tenant' which, more often than not, means they are little old ladies or men we do not raise them - OR - we raise them much less.Here is why...A successful full time investor in our area (who is involved with two of the REI clubs that we are members) argues that by keeping his rents down (by this we mean 80%-90% of market value) he minimizes turn-over, saving more money in the long run.He would say: look at vacancy costs, repairs, cleaning, advertising, opportunity costs, etc.

Intelius, CriminalWatchdog and many more).For people who regularly make checks, have you found a difference in these companies?

Well I was stationed in Montgomery, AL for a while and would get to Auburn regularly for games.

The only thing I can suggest is to go and have a sit down with a couple of different management companies that specialize in managing vacation rentals and gather some information from them.There are a lot of vacation rentals in my area, but oddly, even though I know a lot of people active in several different areas of real estate, I don't know anyone who has vacation rentals (except for one friend with a B&B, and that's not really the same thing).The only thing I know about vacation rentals is that they are extemely management intensive and the management companies charge a substantial fee.You have turn over every week, and someone has to be there to clean, repair, asses damage, and inventory all the household items.