please use a REALTORthey can pull you information on this....beginners fail by using too many online sitesthe best is to call your local realtor to find your area comparables. any realtor will be happy to help you..if you are buying or not. thankssunsmicro

Thank you Wesley for the link to biggerpockets.com and I look forward to learn, yurn and earn more. I will ask and offer advise to those who will listen. I do not have an investment club but would be interested to kno...

It kind of concerned me that it was so easy.

If you have concerns about the area being slow, I would request to see all the expired listings for the last year.

I think my concern is that if you allow yourself to be paralzed waiting for the right time, you will still be on the sidelines in 10 years.

Also realtor fees are usually only 6% of the sales price (195,000*.06=11,700).Now when you say "ranch" I get some concerns.

What things should we be concerned about?

The site was called iamfacingforeclosure.com and is a great example of all the things that you don't want to do.... paying too much, starting too fast, being overleveraged, buying sight unseen with little exp, the list goes on and on........... also, it doesn't appear that it would be a good idea to purchase out of state for a beginner, just in case that wasn't already obvious.

Of course with many houses running well over $1mil, coming up with an extra $1-$2k isn't that hard for many sellers but I see your concern.

I use to be overly concerned about having the numbers add up perfectly.