I've been investing mainly in tough areas to working class neighborhoods, and doing well with it though it requires a lot of eyes on the tenants and properties.

Even then, as Rich points out, townhomes, condos, and anything with an HOA is intrinsically flawed in many investors eyes.

They can be a little annoying at times, sending me letters complaining that our tenant is doing this or doing that, but for the most part, they're helping me keep an eye on the place and preserving the property and rental values of the community.

(I'm in the middle of a deal right now where the family is fighting and backstabbing each other over a few $, so you never know)I would definitely have a title check though, there can be a mechanics lien or something goofy...

:eyes: Maybe you should set that number a bit lower?

The best tool in there is their direct link to social media.More costly but worth it:We have access to a service called tracers that, for .50 per pull, gets us some of the most up to date info on anyone out there.We also employ a couple of private eyes that are somewhat entrepreneurial that will not only locate the owner but set up the appt for between 500-1000 per closed transaction.These are a few of the tools we use to locate our sellers...

Max,In a tenant's eyes anytime you say no or enforce a fee of some sort you will always be the bad guy.

This takes an entirely different EYE, design aesthetic and contractors with more experience working with these finishes.

You may think the roof needs $500 in "repairs", yet no roofer will put his name on a $500 fix, to a 25 year old roof that needs replacement in his eyes.

Best bet is to just keep eye on market and wait for the property to show up on the market with the agent who gets assigned the listing for the bank.