She was straight up and honest with me and even pushed me away from deals she thought were not what I was looking for.

pid=1704Houston Real Estate Highlights in February:-Single-family home sales jumped 13.2 percent year-over-year, with 6,044 units sold, marking the eighth consecutive month of positive sales;-The Days on Market (DOM) figure for single-family homes was unchanged at 68 days;-Total property sales surged 14.9 percent, with 7,393 units sold;-Total dollar volume increased 19.4 percent to about $2.1 billion;-The single-family home median price rose 5.2 percent to $245,000, reaching a February high;-The single-family home average price climbed 5.9 percent to a February high of $301,648;-Single-family homes months of inventory was at a 3.5-months supply, down fractionally from 3.6 months last February but above the national inventory level of 3.1 months;-Townhome/condominium sales rose for a third straight month – up 12.8 percent, with the average price up 14.5 percent to $216,170 and the median price up 16.5 percent to $176,500;-Lease properties experienced a mixed performance, as single-family home rentals increased 5.8 percent with the average rent up 1.8 percent to $1,768;-Volume of townhome/condominium leases fell 2.2 percent with the average rent up 3.5 percent to $1,607.

Then the flip side, which would be going ahead and coming out of pocket for it.

If you're flexible in living on the West side, you can get ahead extremely fast by house hacking and doing live in flips there. 

Your strategy will help you determine the way ahead on this one.Is it 10 duplexes scattered over town?

So just make sure it is properly capped to avoid that nightmare.... pretty straight-forward otherwise.

I think most post cards go straight in the trash, but a hand written envelope is usually at least opened.

With rates the way they are, i would explore a straight up purchase at this point - as long as the property cash flows/meets debt service, there are very attractive options out there - that could be as little as 15% down.   

If I buy 5-10 row homes is there a decent market for portfolio buys whether straight up or at auction?

I am going to forge ahead even though I am scared to death, even more anxiety about the economy (more if renters are going to be able to pay rent once I get a multi-family property)....but, it isn't going to get much cheaper to invest.