Assuming you are a major city in N CA there will be regular meetings.

There just are not that many buyers so you have long sales times or major price swings.Holding as a rental is not going to fix the issue.

Short answer is, "Yes".As others have said, the major impact has been in the "Sub-Prime" sector, but it isn't limited to that.

When i said start small I meant finding a property where I know would not need any major structural work and just cosmetics like new paint,landscaping, maybe new windows, roof.

Look for props. in disrepair: high grass, trash, apparent vacancies.How: Direct mail to owners; cold-call.No major break through here, but it works.

My boss who is direct to one of our major investors is in need of a Las Vegas Casino that he can purchase for 65%LTV or lower.

I guess its a little bit of a discredit towards RE agents but thats due to past experiences with a majority of agents here in NYC.

We won the bid at $67,500 and are looking to put in 10k-12k into it (nothing major wrong with structure).

Minna,All of the major institutions I have dealt with have a clause somewhere in there 4 to 10 page purchase addendum - that prohibits assignment. addendums are binding and it pays to read all that mundane legalese - you'll probably find a single sentence or two in there, somewhere!

I guess I have two conflicting opinions on what is happening in this industry:First, having worked with many small business owners over the years, it's my opinion that the vast majority of the small businesses that fail, do so because of a lack of business/marketing planning.