I checked out their properties online and they are all in great neighborhoods.

Have any Milwaukee BP'ers had experience with the loan program offered for landlords by the city under the Targeted Neighborhood Investment Program (TIN)?

I've been sending to both middle and lower class neighborhoods, playing with different fonts and envelopes, and its been interesting on how the response differs in each neighborhood.Its encouraging to hear that getting mentored from my friend is a good opportunity, I've had close friends telling me not to do it, but its better to listen to people who are experienced with real estate.As far as dialing in the arrangement, we'll be doing it on 3 levels:1.

Either it's priced way too high, your rent figures are wrong, or it's in a neighborhood you don't want to be in!

The bad: i have not yet experienced a downside, just incidental stuff that happened mostly due to the neighborhood where the rental is located.

It's not that @Dawn Anastasi isn't right, because she is... but in our market, that would also get you started on a 2/1 SFH in an ok blue collar neighborhood that would turn about $600/$650 rent.

Also, for my first market I’d like to be able to visit it (investigate neighborhoods/properties, interview PMs, agents, etc) without incurring a huge cost.

Doing it as a owner-builder gave plenty of practical experience in managing a non-trivial construction process.Last year, we acquired one more condo in the neighborhood and have been gaining experience with land-lording as well.My background is in Computer Science and have been working full time as Software Engineer for about 20 years.I am interested in networking with fellow investors/tradesmen, especially who are active in our area (Culver City/West Los Angeles).Thanks and wish you all a very happy new year.Coty

However, it's in quiet residential neighborhood.

There are better deals but in worse neighborhoods.