Politicians aren't about to admit that they don't want more housing as it puts strain on the infrastructure and it's just not sexy to spend money on infrastructure, not to mention it takes away from spending on their pet projects and eye candy that can get them re-elected.

You can buy a good house in a decent area in the teens, put maybe $6-10K (or less) into it depending on it's condition, and it would make a great rental that brings in between $600 - 750/mo (some with or without Sect 8).

It's a sexy product but extras can come up and on occasion can have you into the property at market value. 

Might not be a sexy return, but it will be a consistent return.  

I tend to stay away from what is hot at the time because I follow the logic of those like Warren Buffet who believe boring is more sexy.

Flipping sounds sexy, but its a job more than it is investing and you don't reap the tax benefits of owning real estate long term doing that.

Try to wholesale for multi-units acquire at a cap rate in the teens, rehab, re-rent, stabilze and sell at market avg cap which is probably 6-8%. 

Yes, being a debt free millionaire is way better than being bankrupt, and living a monastic lifestyle sure beats being a drug addict or a prostitute, but going bankrupt and losing everything because he got burned using high interest 90 day loans with no guarantee of renewal like Dave did, then declaring that all debt is bad because of this and saying that 30 year fixed rate loans should be avoided, is like someone who goes out with an ex-con member of a biker gang - gets sexually assaulted by the gang - and then declares that sex is bad and no one should have sex.  

When I was in my teens we lived about 30 mins from Detroit so my buddies and I would  go down to the “war zone” to hang out in the city.