Your costs are going to vary a lot depending on what type of real estate investing you get into.

Wilmington on the other hand has more of a diverse economy and does not rely solely on the military.

When you invest in a property, you must know the area and you can't rely in the information of someone who stands to profit from your purchase.

I rely on insurance - I put $1,000,000 liability on each property and have added a $10,000,000 umbrella policy on top of that.

As an investor I don't want to rely on projections and appreciation to drive my returns.

Prices and service vary greatly.

I want to buy something which will hopefully rent fairly easily before I move on to something more challenging.I have run the numbers and found a few properties that I believe are a good deal in a fairly safe neighborhood, although I plan to visit these before buying as I know Baltimore varies on a block-by-block basis. 

As we all know real estate varies state to state, city to city and of course even down to the neighborhood.

I can only tell you it varies by situation.

Without leverage you have to rely on huge appreciation in order to break a 3-4% return on a buy and hold rental.