One thing I have noticed is the competition is dramatically increasing.

People had been foreclosed upon, and that loan that was foreclosed was a crappy ARM product where the payments jumped dramatically (as will happen with ARMs).

Most of the shows like flip this house have dramatized story lines so that people watch them!

(also kudos to @Heather Binder - member on BP - who gave me the extra boost and coaching to make it happen!)

Since your money needs to earn 15%, using less of your money and more of the debt money will give you a boost in return.

My gut tells me that it won't make a lot of difference, but will give you a chance to boost your rent roll up a little bit.

Unless you have a very good reason to believe property values will rise dramatically, ie. a new military base is being built nearby, the local school got ranked best in the area, then you would probably be better off finding something else.If you can increase rents to $700 a month, as you said is reasonable, that would help your situation out.

The factor that prevented your taxes from dramatically increasing when property values were on the rise will now keep your taxes from significantly decreasing despite declining property values.

I am looking for something to boost my confidence.

Neighborhoods in different areas within that city can vary dramatically on prices and statistics.Think of it this way.. our country was founded by people who overtook the people already living here..Then the invaders (now we are called Americans) claimed the land and eventually called it the United States of America.Then they wrote the history books to make us believe that the 'Indians' welcomed us (after we slaughtered them) and created 'Thanksgiving'.The books were written to try and convince us to believe what the 'governing people' wanted us to believe.Although this is a strong example and many will surely hate what I posted, it's the truth and also applies to the report given in this post.