My reply: a flat "No".Warning number two came when the contractor called me up while he was completing the demolition and said "you know, I've been thinking about that upstairs hallway.

CA is a fairly tenant-friendly state so trend carefully and document all notices/warnings fully.

Anyone can make a loan, the real challenge is to finance a successful transaction wherein you get paid off at maturity.There is lots of fraud out there, recent title transfers with max cash out, borrower will to pay super high fees and costs, cash out wherein the borrower has no cash left in the deal are just a few warning signs that there could be trouble and warrant closer scrutiny.If you don't have sufficient funds to make a first trust deed, there are many professionally managed mortgage pools that will combine you funds with funds of other investors to make loans you can't due to loan size.

Thanks for the warning.

I would just warn people to stay away from them.

I wanted to post this up about my Ebay deal , it went real bad real quick.http://realestatecircleville.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/buying-a-home-from-ebay-a-warning/

I would warn that TLC is not a term used when looking at investment properties in this price point and most are of an age that they will need constant maintenance.

I believe these posters are right about the importance of cash flow and right to find the very, very best investments, but I wonder if the bar on Bigger Pockets is set to the level of “full time, pro investor” and that I’m being scared out of the market by warnings not to buy without at least coming close to the 2% rule.

Thanks for the warnings!

If i were you, I would hire a few tall-and-strong-built-evil-looking-tattoo-covered bodyguards and go there to 'warn' them to leave.