Things are not always what they look at by the pics and you may have to rely heavily on the agent to make the decision if you should fly out to visit the property.

Some people heavily promote that idea because it sounds good (aka marketing candy), but they are masking an ugly truth about the high cost of such an approach. 

I am focusing heavily on the education side of what a brokerage can offer in hopes to later leverage that into future investing activities.

The tenant moved out months ago and ever since i renovated the basement my first floor who lived here 6 years has been complaining more heavily on the roach situation.

I don't own property in that zip code but I have 3 private loans out with an investor who invests heavily in that area.

To all the other posters, the process in Cook County, Illinois is heavily in favor of the tenant as of right now.

Overall it was a good experience for us, but like any rental situation, it heavily depends on the tenant.

I was heavily considering a move to Corpus Christi as it appeared to have some pretty good numbers on the rental market (that and I like Texans).

They rely too heavily on the white pages I think.

I have a couple of concerns buying in a neighborhood which has more investors than owners.Since there are many rentals available, there will be pressure to lower rents to attract tenants, to keep the low vacancy rates.My second bigger concern is, home prices heavily dependent on when investors(hedge funds/mid sized investment firms) decide to sell of their portfolio in the neoighborhoods, increasing the inventory, and having a downward pressure on the prices I feel #1 is more likely to occur, and I am sure some of the BP members may have experienced or know some places where that has happened.