And they will proceed to foreclosure even though it doesn't seem to make economic sense!

By saying "as is" upfront, they save everyone from wasting time, energy, grief (for OOs), and ultimately money.

I suspect that if I had the time, energy and interest, I could make money in stocks, but I have know desire to invest any of that.

During the recent economic turmoil, asset classes that were considered uncorrelated moved in tandem and rendered many diversification strategies useless.In any event, I am a long-term value maximizer and for me a bumpy high return is preferrable to a stable low return.

I don't believe any of these things is inherently bad...what's bad are the people managing the money...the politicians.Most people here wouldn't rent to someone who had a bankruptcy, foreclosure or bad credit score, but we'll happily elect politicians who don't know the first thing about economics, money management or reading budgets/financial statements.

Arguably this is the strategy of our foes right now in an effort to win a long-term economic war with us that precedes a real one.

To many outside economic factors.

The difference is "economic loss:"-Loss to vacancy-Collection losses-ConcessionsNote that concessions reduce "vacancy" and looser screening also reduces "vacancy," but increases collection losses.

Many of the residential tract homeowners have leases in place with energy providers.

From an economic standpoint appreciation and depreciation could be considered.While this is not a cash expense over any term or an income stream, you can anticipate those profits as part of your return.