I looked as stocks, realestate, gold, insurance, etc...

if anybody knows people who are involved with buying and selling non performing and performing notes please list there names by replying to my post, thank yousome other strategies that i've came up with to find notes for sale are researching institutional buyers and sellers for mortgages back securities 

Well as I began to research this idea a little more, I stumbled across the bigger pockets podcast and I instantly realized how much bigger our goals could be than one vacation home.  

I'm curious to understand what is your source of market research (other than local RE agents, which of course is the best source to understand the local market).

You may even end up bidding on a second mortgage, so make sure you do some title research before you buy. 

I'm sorry I am a total newbie here, researching still before I take the plunge. you mentioned "The IRS is saying that FMR is $1,328 but that would mean a near 50% increase in rent".

I thought both sounded high but its within 10 blocks of 2 major universities (Illinois State University/ Illinois Wesleyan) and from the research ive done, rent is very high around those schools.

Joe, of course if there was an opportunity to buy the home that would be the reason for doing the research and finding out the information.  

I researched comps and calculated out an ARV, and my realtor came in very close on his analysis as well.

So, my gut, past experience, and research tells me LLC (or some other form of protection) is the way to go.