They have also bought numerous townhomes & condos in developments where rentals are not even allowed.It will be interesting to see how long they will keep buying at this volume.

Good areas and schools, no war zones; solid C and a few B neighborhoods.

BTW, I am in lower end (not war zone, but not the burbs) of an Atlanta town called Decatur.

I have spoken to numerous people that have gotten cold calls from their bank (Usually BAC) saying that they wanted to refinance their loan for no fee's, no appraisal, no credit check and no employment verification.

The National Association of Realtors has just reported that the housing inventory in the U.S. has dropped to $2.5 MM units in April, the lowest number since 2006. Here’s the most common scenario that realtors in Salt ...

You might study installment contracts, seller financing and consider some flips to build up the war chest.Read all you can here and educate yourself and watch out for the hype of the gurus.

A bidding war isn't what you need, more realistic expectations are...

My war zone acquisitions are sometimes 5%+ of purchase price, but there is a unique skill set that comes with managing those types of properties.

You have to get reasonably proficient pretty quickly to be effective at reviewing numerous of properties.

I have several criteria when purchasing investment properties.1) I don't invest in war zones or high crime areas.2) I look primarily for up and coming areas that currently have lower prices but seem to be trending up.3) The numbers have to work.