You can drive a few miles out of a city and watch the # of unrelated adults swing from 3 to 5 commonly or vice versa.

It's on my list to attend next time around as I, too, couldn't swing it given the timing. 

Each unit is 2BR/1BA, located in center of city (less than 2 miles from horse track, casino, bath houses, bathhouses, golf courses, national park, hiking/biking trails and 5 miles from lake) with good market for AirBnB but has a few scattered mobile homes around it. 

Its better to try and work to a middle ground then come out swinging and say they are "wrong".

Thanks Warren, if I can swing a 0% Va loan on the property across the street from you we'll be neighbors!

2 days would be perfect...maybe a golf tourney on day 3!

I am not in California but just came back from a conference and a few of my friends work those areas.I do believe the broker/agent is giving sound advice.From what I have been told in California it varies by area but there are many more short sales than REO.The foreclosure process there takes a very,very long time and can be expensive for the banks.Some areas in California are receiving multiple offers over asking.The reason is California generally isn't a cash flow market so people wrong or right buy on speculation.It's one of those markets that cycles up hard and crashes down hard so timing is more critical than other markets with more subtle swings in value.With the short sales you will have to watch out for time lines for approval of the sales price.If it has been a while and the prices have fallen even more you will have appraisal issues.This is why you need to know absorption rates for the specific area you are buying in and buy what percent the market is increasing,decreasing each month or is it staying flat.Velocity is also a factor.If for instance December values declined 3.0,then January 3.2,then February 3.6 percent then the velocity downwards is increasing.Also values might decrease but interest rates rise causing you to buy less of a house.So really get educated and drill down the numbers to make an informed decision.Also make sure to compare with market declines apples to apples.So if you want a 3/2 ranch on a 1/2 acre make sure you are looking at that data and not a mixture of sales with wide adjustments to bring in line.no legal adviceForeclosure auctions are generally cash only at the courthouse.Property that has already been foreclosed on that the bank is sticking in a auction is a different animal.

@shawn Pennington What golf courses in the Nashville area have you played thus far ?

It made her more excited about real estate than anything else she has listened to and she also told me that it made her realize that I need to quit swinging hammers and we need to pay someone to do it(good for me!).

If the fha down is about the same as the out of state normal down and you can comfortably swing this, I would consider the local Palmdale a superior investment for many reasons.