It depends on your cash flow situation at home.I like property and am a Buy & Hold Investor (so I am bias).

Today there was an article in a local paper here in Chicago that put out some results of studies if people were biased.

To much west coast bias here.

But if you purchase a house to flip you could potentially make quite a bit of profit as soon as you rehab it and sell it.I flip houses full time and love it so I'm probably a bit biased in my response.

I am a Real Estate Agent that specializes in loss mitigation (short sales) in Florida.I think the response that you are witnessing from agents is a blend of frustration and lack of education/skills to deal with what you are asking them to do.In my opinion (and obviously it's biased!)

Banks work closely with real estate agents on traditional purchases, so there’s an institutional bias that favors the real estate agent.The bank is more likely to consider an offer that makes sense if it’s presented by someone who speaks their language.

It's hard to find anything un-biased in MLM type organizations where every member has a vested interest in the group.As an aside, I believe yet another way to make million is to sell 100 people a class or two for 10k

CNBC just reported that the median income for men is $45,113 and $35,102 for women.The Gender gap is still here and is W I D E!

Of course, I'm biased because I'm one of them, and while I didn't lose much it sure makes me wary of holding equities as opposed to buying bricks and mortar.

On the topic of whether or not you should do it solo or have an agent, well, I'm biased :lol: .