The closer you get to bigger populations, especially big cities, vacancy rates do tend to increase due to transiency.

@Jon Holdman, I emailed the agent, with a list of the issues, and why the property wasn't worth the $250k per lot, so that he might be able to use it to get his seller to understand reality, as the sellers daughter (an attorney) wants her elderly dad to sell the property so he can move closer to her, therefore; maybe he will relent and take less.

Every year, you are getting closer to the need for a new roof, new carpeting, new HVAC system, etc...

And I am much closer to the 78757 area, so thats perfect!

Somebody on BP mentioned this about trustee sales where they buy, and I grabbed that and started paying closer attention to the starting bids here (and I am now tracking them to know how much they will readily take as REO).

ya, that is one of the 3 books I read on a monthly basis, the other two are of course 'think and grow rich' and another book I love to read religiously is 'the closers' by Ben Gay III, funny name but an amazing book.

Buyers (regardless of where they are from) are the ones who can 'right' the real estate ship and get us closer to price stabilization and hopefully appreciation some day!

My next property will probably be in the same area as the first, and then I'll probably look closer to me or another state.

If you've never been a landlord before, I strongly advise owning properties closer to home before staking out on the adventure of distance ownership.

Enjoy the site and gather as much, but don't let the grass grow under your fee.SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS