I think single family homes are the best and easiest/quickest to flip or rent, in my opinion.

For whatever reason, it sure seems like a gift.

Her parents probably think they are doing her a favor, since it will go to her or her brother one day......If she didn't put cash in look at it as a long deferred gift and let it go.

It's the easiest way to catch spammers, but sometimes it catches the good stuff too!

I've heard of people doing quarterly inspections and then providing tenants with like a $30 gift.  

One of the easiest and simplest ways to start is networking and you can start doing that at a local REIA (Real Estate Investors Association) in your local area.

what's easiest way to find a property's market value?.

I started doing my own then eventually moved on to doing PM for others.Some days it feels like the easiest job in the world.

According to the article only about 20% of the properties and lots have value, the rest will cost a pile of money to raze ... sounds like the gift that keeps on taking.My Baba use to say no matter how hard you try, you'll never get milk from the bull.

The easiest way is to partner with someone who has prior apartment investing experience and decent financials.