From what I've been hearing online, though, AZ does seem to have been bid up quite a bit.

I prefer one that has a desktop/laptop version (for my assistant to enter data) and one that I don't have to be connected online to use if possible.Anyone?

If you have significant capital to invest (I don't know your situation) a safe bet is partnering up with a hard money firm and becoming a transactional funder - kind of the same concept except you don't end up being a slumlord...

If you think you can make more than 7% in the stock market and in real estate annually than you can take Aman's advice and borrow from your online brokerage account.

I was just about to go online and find the local REIA, but I came to BP first and because I set up a key word alert for "Miami" your question popped up.I am very much in the same phase of this cycle as you are: researching and educating myself on the basics of REI.

The family would prefer the contract to be paid off early so the can close out the estate.I also have extraordinarily good records for the work/money I've put into the house.Is there any easy way to determine if a bank does portfolio lending, or is my best bet to call around and ask?

However, if you have the address of the property you can look up this information online.

As I move up into larger properties you can bet that the amount of umbrella coverage is going to go up significantly.

Other than reading articles online, base from experience of real people, laws, and how terms are applied in real life situations, i find investopedia.com to be a good guide as well for explanation and definitions of terms in RE that you might find difficult to understand.

These days, you can usually go online, browse through their catalog & have books waiting for you at your nearest branch, even some available for download.