All different levels of skill and knowledge.

Google has been cracking down on duplicate content since February 2011: http://searchengineland.com/google-forecloses-on-c...From the 2011 article:"We’re evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower, including one change that primarily affects sites that copy others’ content and sites with low levels of original content.

Everything else was piled 8' high with clothes in bags.

With a good pool of renters in the area, rents have increased in the last couple years but are now leveling out.  

The biggest problem with this business is that no one wants to operate it on a professional business level.

The only way to avoid losing your money is 1. not invest it, or 2. only invest it from dealing in a good entrepreneurial manner, eliminating and managing risks to an acceptable level.

Offenses have to be much more egregious than this for different levels of government to get involved.Good luck.  

I enjoy doing a lot of the work myself and want to take my investing to another level.

Especially one where the house needs a lot of repair...Mailing to a blanket list of absentee owners seems like a waste of time/money because you are mailing to a lot of houses that may be in good shape and could be sold on a retail level. 

Mohawk makes an entry level one.