I would shoot for more eye pleasing colors, such as white on blue or yellow on green.

I don't want to take your time with my picture of RE changing in front of our eyes due to technology (and social wisdom) but I wonder if I could ask what YOU think on the subject?

John Reed doesn't have a lot of credibility in my eyes.

Make a low ball offer then rinse and repeat, eventually you will have a list of houses you keep an eye on to see if they reduce the price, hit a certain age, or get sold.Kinda simple and low tech but it works for me and I actually enjoy driving around looking at houses lol.

I also get neighbors involved by offering to buy them lunch once a week if they keep a eye on the house.

I will keep my eye on that one.

The major benefit to this, in my eyes, would be to learn my way around handling house problems and becoming generally 'handy' with fixing things up.

In 2005, my starry-eyed parents (seeing great real estates gains in their area) decided to jump head first into real estate investing.

Poland actually caught my eye recently as it supplies 25% of the world's silver.

You want a wide angle (short) but non-fish eye lens for good interior shots.