Evictions every month, then the cleaning up and painting, and the general chasing the tenants for rent took more time than I wanted to devote to the rentals.

Because a common "scam" has become to say you're going to rent your current house, and buy a new, cheaper one.

In my opinion, and that of others, these loan mod companies are scams.

Even that's a scam.

Geof, While there has been an uptick in sales statistics, I think dramatic increase is over stating it for this area.Sophie, unfortunately you are in a situation where the people who feel badly for you or want to take some of your money don't want to give it to you straight.I have just seen this scam so much.

To answer the question...downside of Craigslist is that you may get people from Nigeria trying to scam you.

Avoiding general solicitation scams is going to be a very important part of investing in the near future.

In some cases they can be flat out scams where the seller put a horrible tenant in place, cuts a side deal with the tenant and tells the buyer something completely different about the situation.

If I had all the time in the world to send offers to people, I could devote my life to this - but I have way too many other irons in the fire right now.

I'm willing to change the planned geography, but will I only know to do so after devoting large sums each month, for six to eight months?