@Danielle E. that is absolutely the right way to do it.

., I own a few long-term rentals in my personal name, and my accountant files them on schedule E (1040) as supplemental rental income.

What's the lesser of the evils-- wait it out, and see how the properties fare with new tenants (I feel like I've done that twice already, lol) or suck it up, take my losses and get the H-E double happy-sticks out of this mismanaged and headache-ridden town, having paid a hefty 95k price tag for this hard-knock life lesson?

I just have them respond via the anonymous craiglist e-mail and give my first name.

Worth real 70% deals are very, very hard to come by,,but I will say, I have had a short sale under contract since last November, and got an e-mail today it is about ready to close (now I have to get ready on my side,,,I never thought it would close)they do exist,,,but I would jump on an 85% deal for buy and hold now, and that would cash flow in my area

You must maintain good investing principles as with investing anywhere, but the fundamentals and makeup of this market is very solid and offers multiple opportunities.

Fundamentally I think that most people misuse metrics because they annualize them when the assumptions about how the money will work are dissimilar from project to project.

Insurance companies make money on their policies, so that fundamentally says the bet you make (your premium) is more then the expectation value of a claim.

good question @Benjamin Kelley and, like @Ned Carey I won't give you a straight answer because it depends on your risk tolerance, knowledge and other factors such as your cash reserves, mentorship access to help you with your 1st deal, the deal fundamentals and many other things.

I frequently e-mail leases to people to sign and e-mail back.