That has a few vital ingredients: knowledge, someone you REALLY trust and the loan documents. 

.' :) Without further ado, here are the numbers (I'm sure I'm missing something vital and will update as needed):- Westside Jax (32244), Wal-Mart supercenter 2.5mi, 60k zip population, MSA 1.3 million population- Unemployment 6%, Median home price $85-110k (border of two areas), median income $55k- Rent for 2BR $970/mo, vacancy rate 10%- $315k contract price, $65k seller carry @ 3.5% interest-only, 5yr balloon.- 21 units, 1 unit $200 lot rent.

Persons being foreclosed on can be psychologically unstable and may retool the interiors in all sorts of ways increasing significantly the cost to bring the property into habitable condition.

Your competition will be the recently laid off refi call center cubicle people, so your selling point is that you have no bad habits (hard selling, giving up as soon as a file gets tough, etc) that you need to un-learn.

[FYI- The township of Bloomfield, NJ Uniform Construction Code: 149-8 has a lengthy document on construction fees & 149-3 has more info on Certificate of Habitability (Occupancy) fees].   

It's work, it takes time and it needs to become a regular habit, but I can say without a doubt networking has helped me positively advance my real estate endeavors.  

Finding great contractors, real estate agents, lenders, and property managers is vital to your long-term success.

Networking in real estate investing is vital so don’t be daunted and go to the events!

To save is a good habit.

But I remain curious about the impacts of the sprawl habit on vibrancy of the central city and appreciation in general.