Don't fall that she will give you the keys herself.We stopped excepting Sec 8 2 years ago and our R&M expenses decreased from 18% of total rent to 9%, which increased the net income by almost 30%

If I had this exact same house in an area that drew rent at $1200 a month instead of $1800 a month, can I really expect that my expenses would decrease simply because the exact same house is 20-30 miles in a different direction drawing less rent?

All it will take is something like another decrease in our credit rating or some unforeseen panic and we will not be able to sell government bonds at the rate we want.

It's not all about the initial financing.As to a HELOC, that is dangerous money, look at the different call features the lender has, change in you financial position, change in your credit, collateral value decreasing, or, just because they want to!

I found a few issues with buildings: - cap rates are decreasing fast around here- property taxes seem to be absurd in some cases compared with 5/6 plexes - expenses can be actually higher per unit compared with 3/5 plexes- tenant profile is probably worse- Rents not be higher compared with 5/6 plexes - cash flow might not be greater  compared with some 5/6 plexes- bed bugs seem to be a serious issue in buildings

This will not work because the lender will eventually determine the scope of work is inadequate for the loan situation.Anticipate the need for some money at closing.

So it's hard for me see that CA's near-bottom ranking is an indicator of how one would do as a real estate investor.One thought that I have is perhaps this map would be more useful if it gave a percent increase or decrease out of the state's total income.

The question becomes when does an asset hit bottom and start the upswing to where you have risk but it is decreasing as the market is improving.Hotels do well when corp. send people on business trips and more people vacation with excess income.   

Inadequate draining of storm water can cause huge problems!

For diversification purposes, a $100,000 investment in RE at 4:1 leverage gets you 4 properties, a stock portfolio of $100,000 will usually include at least 25 positions decreasing risk to the portfolio as a whole.