@Chris Watson  I think if a local bank is offering 6% interest and a 20 year note for land, you're going to be hard pressed to find a better deal out there. 

They typically put down very large down payments, pay all cash, or they've become accidental landlords by turning what was once a primary residence into an investment property.

I found after being an "accidental" landlord (how I got my start), I don't have the personality. 

<> I won't say that Buffett's buying is a negative but it is definitely not as good as what is being touted in the press.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair is pressing the Treasury Department to use authority in the $700 billion financial-rescue package to implement the program to spur mortgage modifications.

A Countrywide spokesman said the meeting is closed to the press and is not being webcast.While the outcome is not in doubt, the proceedings lend an aura of secrecy to the final days of Countrywide, which in 2007 made one in six U.S. mortgage loans -- many of which would not get made today.They also provide a contrast to last year, when Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo would spend three hours on earnings conference calls, proclaiming the company he co-founded in 1969 had a "much better chance of success" than any rival to survive the shakeout in housing and credit markets.It won't."

I guess all the cheerleading in the press last tues/wed about the successful & oversubscribed bond issuances didn't work.

We accidentally became landlords 10 years ago. 

It's a bit much for the landlord to require that your parents find an acceptable tenant to replace themselves- I'd be willing to bet this is a small time investor or accidental landlord.

Then after I submitted the offer and pressed a bit about them sending a lease she sent over the one page section 8 agreement that showed a rent of $1,019.