Nearly all of them are tied to some form of substance abuse.

if you are determined to buy it, at least have equity in other real estate  to back it up. financing fun is not only a poor choice, but a dangerous one, unless you plan to work till your dead, I see a lot of upper middle income earners with vacation properties they have mortgages on working in their upper 60's that cant retire, because of obligations.  

Is the reason being the volatility of the market makes for a dangerous source of liquid capital? 

Getting a hard money loan sounds expensive and dangerous.

@Steve Vaughan   that sandwich lease is popular with newbies but is really dangerous for the sellers.. really puts a seller in a bad place in the case of default.Love your neck of the woods  especially Lake Chelan

It does not always have to be advanced because the taxes due are not an immediate danger to lien priority in every instance.  

Martin, that can be a very dangerous attitude, a proposition to just anyone!

Rough as in: Stockton is usually voted in the top 20 most dangerous cities of theFigure 2: Stockton, cesspool?

Just trying to analyze the dangers? 

The up side that is almost always overlooked is that with the correct screening when you do get a tenant they almost never move out. i screen for job history at least 2 years on the same job , 2-3 months of bank account  statements with no over drafts. letter from boss and references ..... i look for income and job history low income doesn't mean dangerous. and most important it doesn't mean late paying or non payment. i have a few duplexes with tenants paying 550 each unit and we bought them and did renovation all in for sub 30k. keep up the great work