As a former teacher, I've seen how bad things have become in the past decade, and it isn't going to get better any time soon.What's worse is that popular culture is embracing the misuse of words and the media propagates it as well.Its the dumbing down of American Society, and it is happening in front of our very eyes.

That said, their are many people who have fallen prey to their expensive trappings, but have still been able to come out the other side and succeed.What makes our community so fantastic is the diversity, and number of pathways that people can take to make profits happen in the investment world!!!

We at biggerpockets are a pretty diverse group as far as background, education, geography, market focus and age, but also potically and socially.

No wonder its so tough to stay motivated.With walking, its much more diverse.

I hope that you can contribute some none salesy type information about investing in internation markets in the appropriate forums her on Bigger Pockets.I am sure you will understand the culture and mantra of this board soon enough.

Anyone with a good knowledge of History (especially Cultural Anthropology) will be able to predict future patterns of human behavior based upon past human behavior.

And as a further side note, for a 3/1 sfr in Florida to be listed at 77,900, it's in an area that's a lot closer in culture to Ohio than you would ever think.Tim

According to answers so far this seems to be falling in the "bad debt" category.We accept debt in our culture to the point of excess and most is really bad debt, but if you have a car loan, that's a depreciating asset.

They could pay the rent with money they earned selling phone calls to Europe and South America for half price.An additional plus for you: the opportunity to learn about different cultures as every immigrant in your city would be at your house a couple of times a week, calling home.

I think this site has one of the most diverse sets of free thinking Americans I have come across in some time.