The house: 10 min from downtown Cleveland, near Lake Erie 2600 sq ft. 4 bed/2 bath, located on a street with 1 home rehabbed recently and another in progress, ~10 houses from train tracks (not loud) Already has updated windows, vinyl siding, half of the driveway is new, boiler replaced 3 yrs ago, newer hot water tank, roof ~5 yrs old, has a few cool stained glass windows and cove ceilings on first floor, butler's pantry, all ceilings 9.5', 2 car garage with workshop, solid foundation, finished attic, close to the city and the neighborhood is quiet for being so close to the city.

There are many homes here on slab foundations, and so "yes" the floors to insulate are above a crawlspace.

The difference is a condo you own everything within the walls (and a portion of the common units) vs. a fee-simple townhome you one the ground that your foundation sits on, the interior and the exterior (more like a traditional single family).

I feel like I already have a solid foundation, and being only 25 I think I can really make good things happen if I get the ball rolling.

and you'll be notified when that is being discussed in the forums.Just start listening to the podcasts, reading posts and blogs, and pretty soon you'll have a good foundation!

Well, for one of them, the next few years has arrived and the foundation work starts tomorrow.You can see the whole story here...http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/3976/blog_posts/29654-foundations---the-sky-really-is-fallingOn the bright side, that makes this unit about $23 a square foot so it's still not looking like I overpaid...

I've checked a few regional bank websites and have found at least two to be out of date.

The bet is that you will get more appreciation in Austin but a lot of that is already built in to the current prices, who knows how much more premium you will get, comparatively speaking.A side note is that I believe Austin has less of those annoying foundation issues than DFW (and Houston for that matter).

These people are best found at your local real estate investment club

I noticed one in Martinez, but all of the units need work from every aspect including foundation issues and all are very small.