A&E are easier to find, you will need that drawing anyway, and the contractor won't charge you leg work on running around pulling the permit.

Hey Michael, I have a good contact for TX that do not charge you an arm and a leg to assign a contract.

not really feasible to pay for title If your going to be bidding on auction properties since maybe one out 50 actually go to auction.you need to be able to do this yourself.and of course out here on the west coast since all our title plants have been moved off shore we can get title date downs over the phone in about 90 seconds.. you guys have to use leg work UGH

I think a good partnership in those markets would be the best use of your time to enter them, saving you considerable time if you had boots on the ground there to do the leg work.

My recommendation is to seek more passive routes of real estate investing such as investment groups, shares of RE Companies, REITs etc for the European theatre as it will relieve you of much of the leg work, hassle and headache, especially if you aren't native (working a deal can be tough as the "American" even when you speak the local dialect).

Not sure that get's you any 'leg up' but it gets you a swing at bat. 

I also am the chair of a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization I started in Indianapolis.

As far as wholesaling I know a lot of people are trying to sell it as a really easy to start out and make really good money in real estate ( been to few guru seminars ) but I understand the tremendous amount of time and leg work I would have to put in to see some results.Options and lease options is something I just heard of recently and was wondering if you could give me some more info or direct me towards a legit learning source so I could learn more and see if its something I could do over here in San DiegoThanks !!

Again, I may have done the leg work, but they are assuming all the risk. 

As I recall way back in my graduate rental days (in Southern Illinois) most rental properties to students were a wreck because 1. they were cheap housing to poor students and 2. students did their best to help wreck them.I remember a fellow I barely knew (proudly) commenting that he and his roommates final "goodbye" before exiting their furnished apartment was to drink a six pack of beer and then urinate on the mattresses and couch and easy chair.