This sounds low, but assuming the former home owner maintained payments for a minimum of 8 years I would be offering 50-60% higher than what the bank has the home in their books for.

She claimed that her landlord did not maintain the property and a drive past the house confirmed it.   

This can be a bit harder to determine but things to look for is how well the community is maintained.

Real estate  can be a lot more consistent and there's room for greater returns depending on what you do to the property, and factoring in appreciation.Considering the time spent landlording/maintaining the property, you have to ask yourself if that time is spent well given the 8.2% CoC return, equity gained, and possible appreciation, compared to the 9.8% return on the S&P.

Both were similar, in that most people were taken by surprise, and a few who were in good positions swooped in and took advantage of fire sales in the stock and RE markets.Since then, people have been predicting when the next crash will happen.

However it has some drawbacks as it has a cost to set up and maintain.

I started investing in the stock market.

Id recommend getting something older for a decent price but if the place is well maintained you wont have to put much in amd rely too much on a pm or contractors.

Matt P. nice joke however my roommate handed his money to an investor and invests stocks and last 5 years was getting around 17% returns!

The program is based around helping families stay in their homes and  maintaining community stability.