If youre willing to spend a little money, use listsource to pull recent absentee owner purchases for the past 6 months.

Spend at least 6 months to a year educating yourself about real estate investment.  

I have spend 30 years in the construction field (mostly on the mechanical side HVAC) but have a pretty good sense of building structures.

Michele, yes, I spend a lot of my drive time listening to podcasts.

I have spend almost the past year reading and studying anything and everything I can find.  

and buyers willing to spend more on updated homes (that's a buy and flip). 

Not to mention all the time you will spend dealing with the HOA board.  

In 1988, Michael Weiss, in his fascinating book The Clustering of America, introduced the idea that neighborhoods can be grouped in terms of lifestyles, consumer spending, demographics, and socioeconomic variables.

Haley 3 buildings, 14 units  Units # Rent 3 BR 2 BR 14 $550 1 BR Total 14 $7,700 Gross Purchase Price $575,000 Total Budgeted Programmatic Capex $30,000 Closing Fees 5.0% Closing Cost $28,750 Net Purchase Price $575,000 Resale Value $650,000 Exit Cap Rate 9.0% Hold Period (Years) 5 Revenue Monthly Annual Gross Annual Rental Income $7,700 $92,400 Other Income (Parking, Pets, etc

I have been spending every free moment educating myself about real estate investing through the Bigger Pockets website and related materials.