Great points and perspectives here.

Bigger pockets is always so good at getting perspective. 

In my experience, from a tenants perspective, Park Avenue was not responsive, a phone system nightmare, the website not up to date and signage in yards not correct.

He told me about his paper about the role of fresh water as a driver for economical development and why he would choose to invest in Milwaukee over many of the other booming cities in the US, many of them in hot and dry climates.

Purchase price 147KListed for 299K, sold for 285 (went under contract for 290 but dropped it another 5K at buyer request after the appraisal just to get out of the deal)Home Depot credit card: 10K (appliances, fixtures and other things we picked out and purchased ourselves rather than having GC use typical builder grade stuff, also husband did some of the work himself so bought his own materials)Brought 40K of our own cash to the closing table, loan total when paid back was 185 (original loan 175 plus 10K in accrued interest, 12 month balloon loan so we did not have to make payments during the rehab, which helped a lot with cash flow, also loan had rehab costs folded in so for the most part we paid our guys out of the loan and not our own pockets)So (numbers are round): 285 sale price - 185 (loan payback) - 40 (cash we brought to closing) - 10 (Home Depot card) - 10 (closing costs) = 40K profitWork done: insulation and vinyl siding (this ate 18K of rehab budget but was unavoidable as cedar shakes were disintegrating), converted to natural gas heat (ducts already in place, changed out electric hot air blower to gas one and gas company ran the gas from the street for free), replaced AC compressor, new water heater, two new bathrooms, replacement windows, new appliances but left the wood cabinets b/c they were in perfect condition and I could not justify painting/replacing them, new kitchen backsplash, removed wall between kitchen and dining room, wood laminate flooring throughout except for new carpet in downstairs den, painted the deck/railings, new garage doors, one new slider, all solid wood interior panel doors, of course fresh paint and new light fixtures throughout.dining roomThere was moisture damage downstairs from bank not winterizing and pipes bursting...thanks, bank.Hauled out enormous old woodstove and broke up ugly old hearth and left good flue for someone to add new pellet or woodstove to if they want to, we figured not everyone wants a woodstove and this way the buyer can decide to add one back if desiredBathroom off downstairs den, chose a walk in shower for variety, hosing off dog or muddy children, disabled access, etc. 

Hi Marcin,Out of state investing is an important component of geographic diversification and syndication can be an ideal way of achieving that from a passive investor perspective.  

You don't want muddy shoes on your fresh carpet.

I also could not agree more with your point on bonds. awful returns but great in the crater perspective.

To make decisions that would affect a series of events that would cause you to create some sort of asset whether it be a check cut from an escrow account or a fresh piece of real estate that is cash flowing quite well is just hard for some people to fathom.If you have self-doubt about your own abilities to succeed in this business of real estate investing then go and listen to the podcasts as I am doing currently.

At this point, from a mortgage perspective, you've hit "nirvana" (or become a jedi master, or whatever metaphor you want to use), and you can quit your day job while continuing to apply for an receive additional mortgages.