At least those I can sell very quickly at any time and get back some of my money.If anything, the long term (staring in late 1800's) Case Shiller data shows that prices roughly pace inflation.

Unless we're wholesaling, we'll always replace poly plumbing, as most retail buyers will have an inspection and it will be flagged.

I understand that Zillow's Zestimates are not appraisals, but are these the Actual Retail Value of the homes by Zillows estimates?

My goal is to find an area that has the potential to grow at a very fast pace.

However, most of us in RE do not pay "retail" for labor/materials.

If you're selling retail and avoid listing on the MLS, you're not going to be successful long-term (my opinion).So, you're really only talking about the other half the of the commission paid to the listing agent.

Now one way that I created a great return for my IRA was I bought a property cash held for about 6 months and my tenant wanted to buy so I sold it to him on owner financing for 10% and the purchase price was full retail which was now about 30% more than my cash purchase price netting me about a 20% return annually for the next 5 years until he refi's.

One thing they're leaving out is a simple law of economics - supply and demand.The fact is that there are new households forming every year.There have been no new houses built in the last 6 years and the pace of building today is at near-historical lows - and definitely not enough to keep up with the number of households being created that need homes.And then add to that the fact that there are a lot of people still under water on their mortgages that can't sell and it should come as no surprise that there currently is less supply than there is demand right now.

I live 5 minutes away so I could invest the time to oversee the rehab this pace needed.2.

If $170K is the retail price (i.e., you can buy those easily off the MLS), you must not pay that if you're serious about this business.