Of course, I would make sure it fits in architecturally and looks like a natural continuation of my house.

You'll naturally get more up to speed as you move here and get to know the area better.

But remember I am an engineer and engineers are not typically risk takers by nature; we like hard data.Question #2 is to those of you experienced investors.

Then you take the personal knowledge and supplement it here, with questions, and with books that focus on the things you might like to focus on.

Please clarify "utilities", are you talking about water/sewer, electric, natural gas, oil, garbage/recycling, other?

It was natural for me -I started looking to buy property in college.  

Parent resides on one side and the other is rented to help supplement cost.

These are listed for incredibly low prices, so I naturally raised an eyebrow at it not being sure if there was a catch or not.

It's not natural appreciation, it's forced appreciation.

That's for people that are bad at math.I average putting $7,000 down on $250,000 properties (0.03%) that I take over in PHX AZ, I have some carrying costs naturally, and the existing loans are in the $180,000 range.