However, it is possible to get around those codes by employing an engineer who can determine your needs are less than that gold standard.

You can search population growth, employer diversity, median income, crime rates, future development plans, population demographics, average rent compared to housing cost etc.

@Fernando Quintero I did not do a whole lot of comparison myself, but I personally use QuickBook Self Employed edition to track my RE LLC expenses. 

- I'm not aware that contractors, especially ones who are not employed, are legally prohibited from doing things like this.

Granted, RipOffReport is essentially a large extortion scheme and people write false reports all the time, but you can generally get a feel for when a report is a legitimate complaint and when it is not.

Also, have any of you seen negative impacts on your house/rental when a major employer has a large lay off in the area?

Last week I put my 2 weeks in at my current employer and am planning to move into my second home.

@Chad ReidlingerYou may want to look into opening as self-directed IRA that can be invested in real estate once you transfer the former employer 401k into it.

So you can technically operate as a sole proprietor in all of your businesses and not have to worry about converting passive income into active business income if you are flipping, because only the *intended* flips will be subject to self employment tax and ordinary income.

All rail service hubs on the downtown area, and suburb-to-suburb transit options are limited to those suburbs along the rails lines.Those properties near the stations have the best values.A key consideration, of course, is the location of centers of employment.