Wow, pretty harsh advise from noobdog1.

I advise you avoid friends and family when it comes to REI.

There is no one book, or one source, other than an experienced professional, that can begin to provide enough localized information to enable you to make informed decisions.Expecting that all "Real Estate Professionals" should be able to properly advise you regarding investment property is like expecting all Doctors to be able to perform heart surgery, or all accountants to know the intricacies of the tax code.

.- Follow the Boomers---By and large, the over 60 crowd is the most affluent generation this country has every seen...The boomers need or will eventually come to need retirement communities, assisted living facilities, affordable housing and businesses to service their wealth

I have been advised repeatedly, that a substantial amount of sales come through connections to lawyers.

Flipping will generate short term cash flow.

Total cash sales nationwide (all generations) are about 22% IIRC.Dump it.all cash

Feel free to ask any questions you've got, but I advise you use the site's search function before doing so, as it is likely that the question has been asked and answered already.

any advise from you guys is appreciated!!

WH.....this is good, but again i am thinking on a couple things here, only wanting to make things flow as simply as possible with little to no gliches at the end of the transaction....i'll try to explain what i mean and maybe i'm speaking for many out there that are making some attempt to find success in this endeavor....in regard only to a short sale transaction the following occurs:property owner (let's call this person the "seller") allows for an individual (let's call this person the "buyer") to "purchase" the property merely for the sake of the "buyer" moving forward to deal with the loss mit people at the lender.as time moves along, this "buyer" gets written confirmation of the lender accepting the "price" offered via the customery HUD-1.now let's say for illustration purposes the "approved" price the lender has agreed to is $250000, the value of the property seems to be in the neighborhood of $350000 and the "buyer" wants to "double escrow" this bad boy for $300000 (generating a clean $50K profit)......in this illustration/scenario the question remains: "what is the cleanest, simplist" way to accomplish this?