The SAFE Act is a large document and about 3/4ths of the way there are several paragraphs concerning dealers and seller financing, of residential property, basically that if sales are done as a business or non-owner occupied that a mortgage originator license is required or an MO to be used.The CFPB consumer financial protection board is a newly established agency that will have oversight of all consumer financing to include installment sales in real estate.

Ann Bellamy there are agencies, must be some where you are, that will take over the entire eviction process, and the small claims too.

The usual: divorce (especially in a community property state), health problem for you or a family member, uninsured/underinsured catastrophic loss for you or a family member (such as a personal injury car accident), a self-employed tax problem/debt, etc.The less usual: a local water district concluding that the water in the entire area causes leukemia or other cancers and therefore no houses are habitable (which is very possible in some areas of Texas), a prolonged drought that causes the local portable water supply to dry up, a major employer or employers moving out of the area/closing, one tenant (or other person) getting hurt on the property (and getting a multi-million dollar judgment against you), one local tax agency assessing a property tax on your property (I had one try to assess a $100K tax to fund an adjacent highway improvement....), etc.

I got out there and had an insurance agency.

@Gary Li, consult your CPA (disclaimer) but generally yea, LLC's the way to go I would say mainly based on the legal benefit of liability divisions and limitations with LLCs (Since you have a few properties, greater risk of legal suits)Also, its good having a Real Estate related name for reporting to collections agency so others recognized that a tenant had conflicts with a previous landlord.

Since I buy low priced (but quality) investment properties in working class neighborhoods, I had to get really creative: I look OFF the mainstream mls, and I go the local brokers and realtors.

They'll have a bunch of agents you could talk to and you'll be able to figure out which agency tends to be the one the good agents work for.

I was reading about homes being torn down and redeveloped by the redevelopment agency.

Should I just go to "State Farm" or other big box insurance agencies or to smaller ones?

The poster said REO and didn't say listing agent.Even if it is the listing agent they are probably having to give up 1 percent to the asset company and is getting 5 not 6.Secondly if the listing broker was who you went through and dual agency wasn't selected you really do not have a beef.A broker in most states can still collect both sides if they stipulate they represent one party and are simply performing ministerial acts for the other party as a customer.How much earnest money did you pony up??