I would also like to increase my direct mail efforts by outsourcing my direct mail to a company like yellowletters.com.

Hi guys,I too have been monitoring our market, I would agree with most things Robert says, Hedge Funds are leaving, but I don't see them selling right now, just less buying as the cap rate isn't there.Inventory has increase very slightly.I track single family homes in Vegas, not all of Clark County.In March of 2013, EA, ER was hovering around was around 3000'sApril was 3100's to 3300'sMay was 3300's to 3500'sand Today is 3731.One thing I found odd and maybe my data is off, but the NOD's that I got for June 5 to current is really low, much lower than previous months for this year.

Since you can also hold personal property with the anticipation that it will increase in value before selling it, simply holding it while it increases in value doesn't by itself convert it to an investment property.

If you are confident your closing company can get it done and the buyer is legit I would move forward.

Other homes in the same street look like hell & yet their taxes do not increase at all.We then find the increased tax burden is generally too high to make a buy & hold viable esp after our rehab expenses.The most recent example was a 4brm/2bth vacant for 4 years that we bought for $23K rehabbed for $8500 (It was originally assessed @ $38,000).

She is inexperienced with investment properties, but I nonetheless chose to trust her over trusting someone of whom I no prior knowledge.For these reasons, I will continue to buy in Springfield until:1) the market of viable multi-families is tapped out (which shouldn't take long), or2) I learn enough to feel confident investing in other markets with the help of other professionals.I am very interested in hearing what advice you have to offer to a noob in my situation, getting recommendations of quality turn-key services providers in other markets, and in connecting with other people who can help me in Illinois (a finance person comes to mind first).Thanks, BP!

If the investor does not find real estate investing attractive, over time, you may be able to change the attitude.When you have a passive investor who is willing to invest in real estate, to give the investor complete confidence in knowing his money is secured and he is in control should things turn bad, let the investor buy the investment opportunity.

Greg Fend, the lease approach mentioned by Wendell De Guzman sounds similar to my dad's approach.In lieu of locking in a nominal % upfront (usually 2-5%) for the option, you increase the rent.

So I was depending on the rents to to increase my approval amount.

If you do that you will have the confidence when a really good deal comes along.