I am a 34 year old Air Force veteran (2W0) and am currently residing in upstate NY near FT Drum.My REI goals are: short-term -> Learn as much as possible and close on first deal by the end of the year mid-term -> $10k/mo positive cash flow within 10 years long-term -> Maintain a sustainable growth investment portfolioMy preferred strategy is SFR/MFR Buy and Hold.I look forward to learning more from each of you as time goes on and hopefully will be able to glean enough to start successfully investing in the near future.

I heard that the old original shingle roofs with old growth wood lasted 40 years.

Also the typical stuff like lack of a maintained yard, the growth, the mail piling up, and if there are no spots from a leaking parked car that can be a sign sometimes.

Visit your city websight to learn of growth and future plans.Realtors will give you recent closed price by the foot comps.Dane

Equity gives you complete control, but growth and liquidity risks.  

Perhaps the MBA will help grow the business quicker once you have it.

Not growth, not last years contribution.

It is also showing growth and not too bad a commute into Ft Worth. 

Scott Scheel mentions that for bigger properties it is tough to get a good deal in markets that are already showing good indications of future growth (either already in the process of growing, or showing the "obvious" increases in population/job growth) He says the best deals are frequently found in weak or even declining markets where you have much better leverage with sellers.This is a risky proposition because real estate trends seem to last quite a while, but if timed correctly an investor can do much better than average by getting in early before the rest of the herd does.Do you guys have any ideas of how to anticipate a potential turnaround area before the census data refects it (IMO this data is a beacon to RE investors) I have a couple ideas I think may be worth looking into:-Projected inflow of large, new employer-New transportation artery-Unaccounted change (in census data) of demographics (undesirables moving out, nicer crowd moving in)-Perhaps a well structured conversation with someone at the economic planning department to find out how close to fruition some upcoming changes are taking place.

The fundamentals are sound for investment growth.