And I live in Northern Texas, so can't help you with that either, however, I always recommend working with an agent verses a company that finds investment properties just because an agent may work on commission, but they are looking with you in mind, a company is looking to move their own properties, or properties that they have some sort of connection with and you may be passing by a great opportunity next door, but would never know it unless you had a person looking at the whole picture and not just their interest.

They will have a whole batch of forms for you to sign.

Not a whole lot else at this point, but I am still a "new" investor.

I understand the whole mortgage subprime thing but man 20k for a nice house that's insane.

Other local practices may vary from what I describe.The whole initial purchase transaction gets handled by a title company.

Whether you can or will find deals like that in your local market is a whole different issue.Now for Part 2 of the question, How do I really know that I am getting a good deal?

That simple question changed my whole life.Hopefully most of you are making progress and not excuses, but......I would love to hear the excuses that are holding your back, or how you have actually overcame the excuse trap

Make the whole house easy access for them.

You cannot contribute to someone else' account, and no body else can contribute to yours.I wonder if you're trying out how to figure out how to get a nice large pot of money in one account.

I need to either invest remotely or move to a more lucrative area.I want a large portfolio of rental properties at the end of the day... and California is making it real tough to achieve that goal.