For example, in original loan estimate there was a lender credit of 500 plus now it becomes 200 credit and even that is used to offset much higher appraisal related charges 650+150(investment cash flow schedule)And to be clear, I made it clear this is investment property upfront, not like I want to take advantage of cheap government money by pretending this is a primary residence Anyway, this ranting was partly due to dealing with them and with insurance along the way accumulated enough negativities and it just pushed me over the edge even by smaller deal surprise at final closing statements.

I'm surprised San Francisco is doing much better than these areas...http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/top-10-housing-...

Sometimes I surprise myself with what I can do on my own!

You would hate to be surprised with major issues after closing.

I've stated the obvious I know, so hit the streets and start learning the outskirts, you may be surprised at how profitable they can be.

The buyers had their inspection last week and I had a nice little surprise that there is an old underground oil storage tank next to the house that hasn't been used for a while. 

The house has been on the market for 6 months, and I won't be surprised if it stays on market for another 6 months. 

He calmly replied to my email around 1130 am the next day stating " there is an emergency situation at your property-- the situation was so horrible I couldn't even take a picture.

There are many pros, but two cons that seem most prominent in my mind of the bat: 1) getting a license doesn't make you an expert out of the gate, even with MLS - an experienced real estate agent can guide you into an emerging market that you might not know about vs. an obvious, saturated market, for example, or explain why a comp only .2 miles away is actually no good for your prospective purchase, among other things 2) if any litigation were to arise in your r.e. business, having a license will almost undoubtedly mean you are held to a higher standard, probably with respect to any aspect of the deal. 

If it's more rural you'll find a surprising amount of land/vacant lots on Craigslist.