The most frustrating thing you'll run into in this biz is trying to talk an unmotivated seller into being motivated. 

If you can afford it, take over the mortgage, rent it out, and get that place working for you to pay off that PITI.

It stayed around so long because we had to live with our choices until we could afford to replace it.Leasons learned:If it pops, It dates.  

She says he's one of the only reputable and affordable contractors she can find due to other contractors' lack of follow through, availability to do estimates and lack of quality work in the past.

. - sourceAnd while the average project approval time for new construction is about four months nationally, it takes eight months on average in L.A.To recap, here are some of the challenges inhibiting development in LA:Getting entitlements for new development is expensive and timelyNIMBYism and the control of local communities over the planning process adds tremendous risk as a project could be stopped due to law suits, lack of approvals, or requirements which make deals unprofitableThe high cost of land and entitlements coupled with a lack of incentives restricts the pool of developers who can afford to developBecause it is so challenging to develop and because we have such a shortage of housing, developers can only make their deals profitable if they target high-end buyers, further contributing to macro-gentriction wherein only the affluent can own homesThat said, it isn't impossible for a developer to develop.

(I use tools to do this.)And, you can take the pulse of a market every 6 months to gauge where it might be going by following job growth, migration trends, major employer actions, affordability, etc.I don't buy purely on appreciation potential. 

But the larger we grew it became a headache.I use to make them add a cent(1-99) to each deposit so I can identify there deposit that worked for a while but still frustrating.

But for those of you who can afford it, I don't think you'll go wrong. 

I am frustrated with my current job.

But, you simply can't afford to get emotional when trying to make an investment of this sort.