I too made it.  

I've been an REO buyers agent for 12 years but been awhile since I made an offer for a retail buyer: normally it's cash, close in 10 days.

Also good idea is to get a verification that they have their own workmen s comp insurance, so your not stuck if they get injured on your site, you simply ask them to have their insurance guy send you a certificate of insurance made out to you, for your address your having the work preformed at.

My deceased husband had our home loan i was on survivor ship deed only, and i made the pmts on the home for almost 3 yrs and the bank wanted me to fill out an application to finance the home into my name since my husband did a loan modification and he was no longer here to sign the final paperwork.

We're hoping that we can manage to get tenants to turn over in the summer, where we can spend a couple of weeks down in DC combining a little vacation in the place with fixing things up and finding a new tenant).Of course I made some mistakes already, too, but I think I'll get away with them this time...So after getting my feet wet, I've been reading about REI, and we do have cash / equity (our primary home is just about paid off) to stuff with, so now I'm considering to get into it in a non-accidental way, and it seems more prudent to look at our local area (NH seacost), but it turns out I have little idea about the purchase/rental market here, and it doesn't seem all that easy to find out (in NoVA, at least, there's a very active market, while here prices seem to fluctuate wildly for no obvious (to me) reason.

Mine was 120 miles and I made it work by having a team do all the leg work. 

@Michael Lee Thank you for the advice, it was more of a genuine question and less of an advertisement but you have made your point...

Have made some great connections here and learn what is happening in real estate all over the country keeps me up to date and informed in many ways.

Since I will start as a part time investor, I know one of the keys to being successful is to build a team around me made up of successful people that are experts in their fields.

Everyone has made suggestions here and as you can see this site provides great value.