Also, by then my income will be higher so that will be very doable.We have two competing ideas, although they are not mutually exclusive. 1.

@Mary Katherine Blake I'm a local agent working exclusively with investors in the area.

This is straight from the Chicago Association of REALTORS website:A reminder that the Chicago Residential Lease, and all of CAR’s forms and contracts, are an exclusive member benefit for use only by Chicago Association of REALTORS® members or those who are party to a transaction facilitated by a Chicago Association of REALTORS® member.

Keep him on your short-list.One super quick, super high-level (but honestly a really good start) way to research the "quality" of an investment area, particularly (but definitely not exclusively) for multifamily, is population growth.My favorite site to check this is worldpopulationreview.com.

A house on Main St, will likely sell at a discount and a house in an exclusive part of town will still bring a bidding war (as long as it is priced correctly).Activity will remain steady because the largest generation in our country's history is entering the part of their lives where homeownership makes sense.

Are you going to work hard for him... are you going to send him that gem or are you going to send it to the person that signed an exclusive contract with you? 

I buy almost exclusively MLS-listed properties.

I've been investing in real estate in the state of Yucatan (the safest state in Mexico) for the last 1.5 years and have learned alot.. so far I've invested exclusively in presales and a land purchase, one property was an oceanside condo that will be delivered in June, it's currently up around 35% in value (great!)

Saying this based on my 20+ years in taxation and 15+ years in software development prior to that.Well let me correct you on a few points:1) Haven't totally changed careers (at least not yet), at present I am primarily limited to addressing the US and foreign tax law consequences of cross border transfers of intellectual property in the context of merger and restructuring changes (mostly for Silicon Valley companies, but not exclusively).2) Never made the claim you suggest so you will need to take that straw man back to where you found it.3) Often during my time in the trenchs we had to come up with answers to questions pertaining to mere proposed legislation, and telling the client to wait a year until we figure it out was not an option.

I am a licensed agent working in the Atlanta metro area, dealing exclusively in real estate investment.