The banks only foreclose on small numbers of properties at a time, thus artificially limiting the supply of homes on the local market, and sending home prices higher.My question is does someone have a percentage breakdown of who actually owns these defaulted mortgages that remain unforeclosed?

The combination of the Fed's desire to stimulate lending via cheap money and the government's desire to stimulate the economy by running a huge deficit has made it a great time to be a bank: Banks can borrow from the government at artificially cheap rates and then lend the money back to the Federal government at higher rates, pocketing the difference.

I've gotten some good suggestions on here for the lawn.

The tenants pay for all utilities and apparently are great about paying rent and also do all maintenance (lawn, garden, snow, etc) which makes me feel better about being an hour and a half away but I know a PM isn't out of the question.When I asked, the owner said he would be open to owner financing with a good down payment.

i hope we can TRULY retire at 38 or 48 yrs old.i disagree about being a renter at this point. the cost of renting is only less than being a homeowner because we wouldn't own the property (i.e. exterminator, upgrades we want, watering the lawn, buying items for a home not a rental etc). sure i understand that if the water heater breaks beyond repair we pay that $3k cost and the home owner doesn't but its a small price to pay considering we would pay $1200+ to rent a house monthly in a "decent" neighborhood as opposed to just under $1100/mo in the same decent neighborhood WITHOUT having to worry about it haveing been ripped apart by the previous tenants.

For example, if I have a guy mow a few dozen lawns, it would be quite obnoxious to have to write him 10 separate checks per month.

With yard work we don't do anything and it can actually save on costs because people expect the lawn to be brown in winter and we can't exactly plant grass.

So, an extra $75 a month, if I am understanding you rightly.With my water rates here in Colorado, I can get that much increase in the summertime when I am watering the lawn and garden.

I know someone who put himself through college w/ a lawn care business.

On the other hand, if you are paying someone to mow the lawn, that is a currently deductible operating expense.