You will also want to be sure to keep your eyes and ears open to the possible tax benefits of investing in RE.

I honestly belief that investors should stop looking for specic catagoeries/situations of people to find houses to buy, and instead focus on motivation (regardless is their house is vacant, tax liened, foreclosure etc. etc.)Do you really care that you get a vacant house deal, or do you care that you find a high profit deal regardless whether it is a vacant house or not?

"Commercial" is meaningless for taxes.

They avoid accountability and as my manager often reminds our staff, "they are tenants for a reason".Recent applicant's bank statement showed she got $12k in income tax refunds.

It's pointless→ I want to evaluate how the property is performing NOW→ Where it COULD BE performing→ And WHAT it will take to get there.This involves (at a minimum) checking comps, creating a 5 year proforma, verifying taxes & insurance, and making assumptions about the business plan.You can't determine if a deal is a pass/go simply from NOI / Cap Rate.The art of underwriting involves finding value where others miss.If you're passing on deals just from dividing the in-place NOI by a cap rate, send those over here!

Do they include property tax and estimated income tax from the projected profit?

As to the issue of captive insurance subs, I worked in the accounting department of a small insurance carrier, set up primarily as a tax shelter.

I get great tax benefits.

I furthered my education by reading "Writing Winning Business Plans" by Garrett Sutton, "Tax-Free Wealth" by Tom Wheelwright, and, naturally, "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Turner.

@Ilyas KarzaiInvesting in CA can be very lucrative but as other posters have mentioned there are trade-offs, taxes, costs, and tenant laws.