Hey Damon, that sucks about the bad timing condo.....is that what got you started with real estate investing? 

I'm bad at predicting them and even worse at predicting how society will handle it. 

If you can not succeed at that you may not be cut out for investing.Learning to save and eliminate bad debt is the best training in preparation to succeed and extremely difficult to do without cash.

You can find quickly who the good and bad players are in this space

Can someone direct me to  the info where I can learn the fundamental metrics required to get really good at analyzing a good vs bad deal so I can make the appropriate offers? 

When it is said here that 99% of deals are bad, I assume that if the seller is willing to take a lower amount then a bad deal could then become good?

Idk if I would base a portfolio on them, but adding one or two to the mix might not be a bad idea if you are up for it!!

The bad thing about listening to podcasts during the morning and evening commute is that you can't take notes.

It is tough (at least in my area) to identify good areas by zipcode as most have both good and bad areas. 

I think the due diligence in purchasing performing and non performing is extremely important considering the potential repercussions of a bad deal.