I often get told I try to do too much (like that time I signed up to take 3 different foreign languages as a freshman in college and was told I was crazy), so sometimes I lose sight of what is "normal," if that exists.

I've actually been interested in real estate since I was in high school (both investing and being an agent), but due to certain circumstances my zeal for the industry had to be put on hold.I decided to move home after college in order to save up some capital so that I can pursue a career in real estate and get into some investing once I moved back to the states.

Jon C, As a fresh college grad, the classes that continually challenged me to think about real estate in new ways were monetary economics (dry subject, but powerful to learn how money can work for you) and basic Economics classes.

When I analyzed the financial aspect, I was very confident I could do better if I got out after 4 years (and a college education) then if I stayed in.

So, I decided to take courses in it to calm my curiosity; I started in real estate when I was taking real estate courses for elective credits last semester in college.

Students learn financial analysis (maybe in college) and learn by looking at some small business making 2,5 million annually, then they take the same approach to their business of 2.5 thousand annually or 25 thousand, when you bring back the deviations to the present value it might amount to dinner out!

Cloud recently made the list of Top 10 Fastest Growing Cities, along with other big college towns. http://www.housingwire.com/articles/31408-top-10-f...Good luck with your REI journey.

I'm not sure how "internal guidelines" are found but here's some info regarding the hud process:HUD will review all offers received from owner/occupant bidders during the priority period.

The "liberal arts" approach would be to tell you that sophisticated investing precludes buying either equity or cash flow - we create both, not buy them.A more mathematical answer would be to tell you that the 2 most applicable measurements of ROI are the cash on cash return (CCR) and the internal rate of return (IRR).  

The overall vacancy rate is not atrocious, 11% which tells you they rent fast for right price.You are in a low income area, median household is barely $36k/yr. 98% of the local residents didn't go to College, so you get an idea of the wages.