That's both halves of social security and medicare. 

I had an uncle who built many of the Holiday Inns across the country, he also did the Hemisfair Tower in San Antonio.Real estate speculators, professionals, do very well, those that do don't buy and hope like most do, they buy and then cause the value to increase through political, social and business methods.Carol Jones began dirt poor, I mean Oklahoma dirt poor and built a nationally recognized real estate brokerage through not much more than knowledge and determination, a master motivator, her operations far exceed your expectations, so does Patrick Murney, and Judy Huntsman with Caldwell, all started here.Our Congressman, Billy Long (R) was an auctioneer and broker,  he's doing fine.

In these areas, sometimes tenants can get it from a social services organization or even Catholic Charities.Let the tenant figure out how they can get the deposit - if you tell them no right up front, they will find a way.

Nothing exotic but another on-the-road closing...gotta love the power of the internet & dot loop :)Would love to hear of some of your stories of closing on properties in odd locations!

In this economy, in this socially engineered fractional reserve banking system, productivity resides in working smart not hard - you know this!

Some words of encouragement for all you new investors just like me.When we create an account on any social networking site we decide, do add a picture to the profile.It just makes it look a whole lot more professional and attractive to those, like myself, who try to build a network web.Don't just build an impressive account, with a huge professional background and,then, go dormant.I'm really scared too, but, honestly, what's the worst that can happen...look stupid, you say!

Her only income is her social security and a pension fund.

Hey Bill,Interesting topic.I would say BP is a big source of education along with the internet as a whole, but I come here more for the motivation.

This would be my first US real estate investment, and frankly I am finding you need to do ALOT of due diligence during these tough times and its totally overwhelming the number of places for sale, almost impossible using the internet only as my searching tool.

I can't help but see the advantage due to the fact that the listings on the internet do a terrible job of showing what potential your property has.