Families who had paid thousands of dollars to move into their dream home had collapsed sewer lines during their first week of living in their homes.

Thanks,Sarah  G'Day Sarah,Congrats on the leap of faith into the wonderful world of real estate investing.Best tip I could give you would be to take your time and soak up as much information on anything and everything real estate.Be it buying locally or out of state, the most important thing is to establish trust and relationships with key people dependent on the strategy you are looking at implementing.Over my career I have witnessed countless of investors getting caught up in online market stats, demographics, charts, etc... only to end up loosing money.As cliche as it mind sound but "Team-work makes the dream work"For example, if you buy the best house, in the best area, on the best street with the best capital growth prospects but your property manager is incompetent or a cheat.

Being able to use and appraised value as cost basis would be a dream but you are probably correct that that is unlikely as well.

If you're into dreams, hard work, building long-term relationships, and making things happen, let's connect!

So many simply tire of trying to find the unicorn deal all the while the  Nice " man in the Blue Suit has gotten rich on your dreams" One of my favorite lines from Stevie Winwood and the Low Spark of the HIgh heels boys.

but if that's your dream, go for it....

I think that when we see rates drop down to about 5%, we see those sellers start to come out of the woodwork because even though that 3.5% interest they currently have looks great, a 5% interest on their dream home or next step up is a lot easier for them to swallow than a 7%. 

I'm here following my passion n dreams of buying and investing in rentals.

Personally, I fall in the @Bob Stevens camp; for the majority of first time investors get traction and take action before building the mythical dream team.  

I am running numbers on the property I got surveys and plans in and permits that have expired my dream of giving my kids two places.