So the competition for deals gets crazy by all the first timers that will flame out and never do a deal but that does not make it better for those that do it for a living your constantly competing against someone with a 2k limit on their credit card and can hang on sites like this to get just enough knowledge to try to become a RE investor.. so in essence the market the interenet the desire to make a bunch of money because there is some illusion that RE is the way to rich's and lying on the beach.. has created the hordes all doing the same thing.We see this is the courthouse steps buying activity on the West coast every Tom Dick and Harry that can scrap up 200 to 300k in cash ( and there are Many) decide they want to buy foreclosures.. they show up to auction run properties up to a value that makes 0 sense buy it.. and never come back because they lost money or what have you.. and right when you think you got rid of those folks 5 more replace them... same thing is happening when your in the wholesaling business or distressed asset business.

Some of the replies to this post mention cap rates that might be good targets to shoot for in a particular neighborhood, but what is the process one uses to determine the desired cap rate for that area? 

Find a home in a desirable neighborhood, or in a city where people want to live.

Let people know that you have a real desire to learn the type of business that you want to be involved in.

Florida homes are built on a slab so to install proper ac/heating you have to cut channels or venting channels in the concrete/floor you could come through the attic but that's not green and a professional would advise against it, is the ac your biggest desire to update?

Acquiring financial freedom will allow my family to live our desired lifestyle, debt free, with no more stress each month struggling to make ends meet, secure our daughter’s future and continue to build wealth so that we can be a blessing to others and help to rebuild our communities and create opportunities for others to find the same success.  

., houses that have been foreclosed on by local tax authorities for lack of paying property taxes. granted, most of these houses are in such a state of disrepair that they probably should be burned down and started over, but buying this way teaches you how to become one hell of a great handyman. start getting your credit in order. you hear a lot about these " credit repair" companies all around. the truth is,  THEY CANNOT DO ANYTHING FOR YOU THAT YOU CANNOT DO FOR YOURSELF. go to annualcreditreport.com and get a free copy of your credit report from all 3 agencies. by law, you are entitled to a free report each year from each company. on annualcreditreport.com, you can dispute every negative thing you see. thats how these credit repair places do it. they go on here and dispute anything that looks negative. by law, the credit agency has to follow up on your dispute to any and all creditors that you dispute. these creditors have 30 days to respond back to the agency as to whether or not this report is accurate. if they fail to answer back in 30 days, then that part of the report is removed from your report, just as if it never existed. hence, your credit score goes up and you become more desirable to  lenders. 

As an example, a client is currently looking for 2-4 units in NOBE (North Oakland/Berkeley-highly desirable) to O/O w/5+% cap but everything we've seen has been low  like 3-4's.  

In the ‪#‎RealEstate‬ or‪#‎PropertyManagment‬ industry or not, I've got a duplex downtown in a very desirable location.

It left a lot to be desired.