If that happens, your rent guarantee is worthless and you may be stuck with a house in a neighborhood that has not been completed.

Since then there has been 5 or 6 sales in the neighborhood - I like to think I caused a domino effect by taking the long DOM off the street and painting the exterior and landscaping.Dan - I am just getting started at a young 52.

I went and looked at them and they seem great - decent houses in nice neighborhoods, easily as big and in same style as others near it, need rehab but not so much that they're real wrecks.

Here are the numbers:ARV: $60-$65k (Has appraised in Aug. '08 for $74.9K) but it's difficult to find comps because it is in a rural area (not a neighborhood and about 5 miles outside of the cityRepairs: minimal; $5k (alot of updating took place in 2005)I have negotiated this so far to $35k.

Weird laws and as I remember in Connecticut, because of the lyme disease hitting kids so hard there, they were letting people shoot deer (archery only) out of people's yards in neighborhoods.

Short of really bad neighborhoods, I have not found any deals that come close.

I am not sure if this is politically correct to say, as it is confusing anymore, but I have seen that when gay couples move into a neighborhood, property values tend to go up.

Agents used their face on their marketing because they used to walk the neighborhood, go to events, and be part of the community.

I use 5 resources, and they are all free - Zillow, Realquest, Cyberhomes, the TAV and I ask the seller what homes similar to theirs in their neighborhood are selling for.

Aside from the neighborhood, you have to understand something about Chicago politics.