Hi, My name is Charlie Cline, I am in Bakersfield Ca, and am trying to get my feet wet in the investing thing.

These things add very little value at the beginning as compared to other things you could be focusing on.I've done 3 deals, have made numerous offers, and will be closing on 2 more deals this month.

Look at all the people on here with numerous properties. :)

The purpose of these funds, so far as I can tell, is not to derive yield from direct investment, but instead use the rental projections to sell the underlying assets to risk-averse institutional investors (read the same pension funds and municipalities that got swindled during subprime) at inflated prices.Quick numerical example:Buy a house for $200,000 that rents for $2,000/mo.

If you are flipping, you'll have to increase your price bracket above the low end where the buy & hold guys play.I was at a REI club meeting in Sacramento last night and numerous people said the same thing....Blackstone and THR are both buying up lots of property right now in this market.

I've tried numerous times

There are numerous paid sites that are available from data and servicing companies that can give you that same information as well, such as:http://www.listsource.com/quick-lists/estimated-equity/estimated-equity.htm

However, it has always had me thinking about how this can be applied to basic investment strategy, and with real estate in particular.I'm just getting my feet wet into actually buying/fixing/and holding properties for my own portfolio after doing 60+ wholesale deals these last 2 years, but through 1031 or like-kind exchanges and such...can't this same strategy be applied directly to real estate?

I'm planning on doing everything myself for this year to get my feet wet.

If numerous similar houses are selling for, say, $15K, you're not getting $23K.Have you done something that is highly unusual for that sort of house?