I think this approach would be simpler and cleaner.

Fast forward to 2019, still in the corporate world however, I have started appraising now and was approached by a friend of mine to work together and purchase some real estate. 

The price used items sell for on eBay (due to being bid up) is incredibly high. 

@Sheena Lee bank checking accounts are incredibly insecure.

Both still in those areas and in others as well.Comparatively, 19125 & 19123 zips are incredibly cheap compared to other booming neighborhoods in other cities like Chicago's Wicker Park for example.

Of the last 3 we bought 2 of them we found from approaching the owners directly, we saved ourselves allot of money by going directly to the title company and cutting out the realtor. 

Of course, this is the leveraged approach as I have a higher risk profile.

That may be a good approach for me. 

Although it really depends on the market, 2% is more likely in the worse neighborhoods, and while those properties would seem to cash flow well, they are also higher risk and take a much more hands on approach.  2% in a nice neighborhood would be less common and probably not on the market long unless there were extenuating circumstances.Of course each city is different.

Fourth, education and safety has always been incredibly strong in Minnesota.