Basic Business.

And for Upper South Providence the more north or east you go the better, but it's all tough.If you are serious about either/both areas then next time don't just drive through, get out and walk around, maybe talk to some older people who live in the neighborhood, maybe go look at some apartments or open houses in the areas and talk to the showing agents.

I should take a drive down and check out the area. 

These are basically worthless assets.

Basically - do you have to have the property in hand first, or will hard money lenders make the loan contingent upon the property going under contract?  

like Robert I'm tired of driving from Durham 2-3 times a week.

Paying basically on time, all working steady jobs, take decent care of the places.

This basically means be smart, think about your goals for the future, stay out of stupid debt, reference Robert Kiyosaki's book above.#6 Surround yourself with people doing what you want to be doing.

I drive to San diego from LA to check out RE at some point. 

Existing units will theoretically suffer because the tenants may ask "why should I pay you $x when I can go live in that nicer place for basically the same amount of money?"