My husband and I have wanted to get into RE investment forever it seems but never seem to have the extra cash to get started.

A lot of them are skewed since the crash and since the banksters slashed and burned consumer credit.David J Dachtera"Success is not a destination.

The law favors the rights of a lender over the rights of a borrower, that may not seem so in consumer loans, but it is.

There are people that think properties will go up forever (It's called "Irrational exuberance")I can't predict the crash (3 years maybe, probably farther away than most people think) but it will come and there will be millions of houses on the market where the owner could not sustain the negative cash flow through the down turn.Pick a market where you get MAXIMUM APPRECIATION AND MAXIMUM CASH FLOW.

I want to get an idea of both the consumers and the professionals in the state.

Most traditional agents don't want to submit low-ball offers or put in a bunch of them because it is time consuming to them and they don't always understand your end-goal, so I'd recommend you find an agent that is investor-friendly.

If you have a problem with any one of these you will consume your $5,000 budget.

Permits take forever for every village!

I don't want to add to my already time consuming day job, but i like being more in control of my destiny.

- Add 3 doors to portfolio- Pay off remaining consumer debt- Find a local bank or CU- Flip first propertyBest of luck to everyone on their New year RE resolutions.