In the first instance shoe shine boys were giving tips to Wall Street pros right before the bubble burst and lead to the depression.

If they lose a job, or get a divorce or have a medical problem, they don't have a large 401k or IRA or home equity or stocks or bonds to help prop them up.If someone in Indian Hill (most wealthy area of Cincinnati) goes into foreclosure, it is usually in a blaze of glory because these people will normally have the necessary resources to weather a financial storm.What is still a bit of a mystery is why the foreclosures are so clumped in certain small areas or even on just certain streets.

With the popularity of the shows on A&E, Discovery, and TLC I am afraid this market if saturated.

Well, it actually might surprise you. "2k more for this bath versus the one up the street that I can choose my tile" See what I mean?

My partner and I found an abandoned house on a slighly busy street, good area.

On a busy street versus a side street or cul-de-sac.

The loss of control or lack of control leads to the fear---as to you other point, it's statistical fact that the majority of us invest the lionshare of our nest egg into some derative offered by Wall Street...I was trying to draw a parallel, you can't touch, feel, see or control anything on Wall Street, but that doesn't stop trillions of dollars from flowing in and out of it on a daily basis.

The only place I've ever seen that a coffee was more expensive was at Aspen CO, at street level, bottom of the gondola.

It appears that we share both niche and location (I'm right up the street from you---Paxton)...Good luck!

We'll have off street parking and ability to get a dumpster to the rear of the home.We can get the property for $33k, we can get a low interest ( <5% ) @25k rehab loan from the city, and as much as a $6k grant at the end of the project if we agree to stay for a few years.