As for building ratings - during the 10 years I was in apartments, I always was at the C-level with the dream of getting to the A-level with all senior residents.

However, a well run, beautiful, nice, well placed school should increase property values overall which increases the taxes taken in by the cities long term.Keeping in mind that sometimes "positive cashflow" for a city is "money out" of the citizens pocket when viewed through the lens of scarcity of resources.

You cannot factor someone's age into your rental decision (presence of young children/seniors).

The on-the-job experience you will gain as a Property Manager in a commercial brokerage is invaluable but you will unlikely gain the knowledge you will need to become a key player in the Senior Management team with out a sound knowledge of Real Estate Finance and other related facets.

Hi Everyone ,Let me first introduce myself to the community.My name in Kenrick from Aruba(the caribbean), I am a young entrepreneur on the island also involved in real estate.In this discussion I will elaborate more about types of real estate investments in Aruba & where I see opportunities.Aruba is a part of the Netherlands, but still we are autonomous, this being said the Netherlands still has some responsibilities with Aruba and other caribbean islands.Aruba has its own currency & its own government.For more info on Aruba: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArubaReal estate in Aruba:Arubas real estate I would describe as a strong market, we have seen only growth in real estate prices this after more then 20 years after a market correction due to the closing of a refinery leading to job loss and Aruban citizens migrating to other island.Aruba in the past years have seen major condo projects & is still being invested primarly from Venezuelan investors with there condominium projects.Property land prices have been rising as supply does remain short of the demand of houses.Land:In Aruba if you want to build your own house, 2 ways you could do this either buy a property land or a government owned land leased to you.Property land being the most expensive(most valueble) & government owned land being the cheapest  with restrictions are still available depending on size average size needed is 300 sq. meters or more.Housing projects is still a big business because of supply and demand, dividing big pieces of property land and developing them into housing project is a good business with draw back in regards to getting permission from government departments, must have a concrete/paved road, infrastructure in place all expenses for the real estate investors costing time & money with could lead into a delay of a year or more.Opportunity:Opportunity to buy either a big piece or a small piece of land which could easily be divided can easily double your money in 3 to 6 months time.

That is losing 600,000 school age kids and gaining 800,000 senior citizens.

Finally, you can always ask them to appoint a U.S. citizen as a guarantor (their son/daughter for example).

We live and work in Europe but are US citizens.

I made these mistakes....I dropped out my senior year in college because the last year didn't make sense based on the choices I made in my own business.    

-A few takeaways from my first purchase:-You can obtain financing on a mortgage less than $20K (Fifth Third Bank, Citizens Bank, and Dollar Bank are a few lenders which low volume financing).