On the other hand - buying homes to rent out is pretty good right now because you can get good interest rates, and their are a lot of homes in distress.

YOU need to obtain and pay for proper insurance; YOU need to pay and/or appeal your Real Estate taxes; YOU are ultimately responsible for law and code violations; YOU need to provide oversight to ensure the property does not deteriorate; If you want a "hand's off" Real Estate investment, then look at REIT's!

Tenant says OK and is heading out the door. 2 hours later (the house is 3 miles away) tenant shows up, hands the cash over, it's $250 short.You said you had it all.

I tend to be extremely "Hands on" in virtually everything I do, and always was fascinated by the ways houses worked (Ever seen anybody geek out over plumbing?

Got to see the Trump building first hand...

[b]Notice of Defaults (NOD) –[/b] Leave hand written notes on doors of homes that are in foreclosure.

You may have to hand onto them longer, but take that into consideration when you are acquiring the property.

You can choose any property you want to buy, they on the other hand can't choose any property to sell, they are selling that property.Hope this helps,-Michael

On the other hand, some areas in CA are still appreciating in value.

You can only print worthless pieces of paper (based on nothing except the INABILITY of the government to endlessly tax the taxpayer) for so long, especially when you're on a decades-long hand-out spending spree for every loser that is too lazy to work.