On one hand I can knock on the door and risk the home owner being potentially upset with me because I'm a reminder of their financial troubles, or it could go well because it puts me in front of the seller right away.On the other hand I can leave a juicy piece of marketing material at their doorstep and have them call me without any angst towards me, essentially a warm lead, or it could be they find it easier to throw out the marketing piece and they don't call.I'm curious what you guys think is a better option and what personal experiences you have.

@Anja Wehrmann  going to throw you a curve ball.with the new crowd funding rules to so be here... maybe short term debt deals with the top crowd funding shops  were you can make 9 to 12% would be an alternative to taking the risk in actually owning A rental

I am familiar with those two areas because I am from Texas (Houston), and I lived in Charlotte, NC for 5 years while I went to college.FYI...throw the 1% rule out the window when looking for properties in LA..."

The SEC filings quagmire is meant to protect you from preying on people who don't know any better than to throw their checkbook at you.

Sounds like the seller may have got a good cash offer also and is trying to get more out of you to justify the finance deal, maybe your offer is a little higher but the cash deal has no contingencies.Removing an Inspection contingency can really come back to bite you..Throw them a bone, If it were me, I would say yes to it but that I want to inspect myself, then put on the jumpsuit, crawl under the house with a big flashlight, bring a ladder and get on the roof.If it's a good deal and you can afford to pay cash then remove financing but each deal and investor has their own unique circumstances that may not make it feasible..

I'm a little late to the party but I'll throw in another plug for @Sean Tluchak as well.  

My partner and I were throwing around the idea of taking out a LOC of around 5k which will cover floating the mortgage for the summer months since students dont move in till end of august. the mortgage taxes and insurance comes out to about 950 a month.

I don't want to throw my money away and would rather take a beating on here for something I did wrong before I spend the money as opposed to afterwards, so if this is a bad deal please let me know.Thanks,Zach

Like @Bob Malecki talks about.. there is a reason you get the nicer returns you need to be very smart about what you buy and know the laws inside out.As for tax advantages  owning a few mid priced rentals I don't believe throw off enough in tax advantages to make that a part of the equation.. if you own 50 to plus door then I see that.I personally see the Crowd funding when the new rules come into play as a huge option for the person who would consider getting started in RE with a low priced rental IE under 100k rental.

Most investors throw the RTS mail in the trash