Setting aside all of the economic and tax reasons for why TX is better, there is the very practical reason that Texas is far more landlord friendly than CT.

Brian Woodson Your assignment fee must go on HUD 1 on buyers side there is no way around this unless you do a double close/simultaneous closing.

Is it a good idea to ask the mailman and/or code enforcement officer to let me know of any houses they know of that are vacant, for sale by owner, or otherwise potentially a good deal that is practically unknown to other investors?

Assuming a tenant has been screened (e.g. income, credit, rental history, criminal background, deposits, etc.) and is deemed qualified per the respective rental criteria, is it common practice to ask a tenant to subject to an inspection of their current residence prior to final approval of application?

The auctions here are crazy, unlike they show on TV, here with that many going on simultaneously, 1st Tuesday of the month is a zoo.

For practical purposes, I would hire someone with a truck mounted rig since it is questionalbe whether you could depend on someone with a portable to take the necessary time.

It seems to me that the real truth is that if enough of these properties were sold at sizeable losses all at once it would overwhelm the bank's reserves for loss allowance, and would require that many banks either recapitalize or fold.You can call it conspiracy - or practical reality - but the US regulators are allowing the banks to hold onto these properties in a limbo state in order for their losses to be slowly absorbed over time against other income.

I wouldn't do this deal today as it is way too thin, practically retail, and I can now do much, much better.

Of course, so did basic supply-and-demand theory put forth by Adam Smith -- that made perfect sense as well...in a vacuum.But, none of these theories have held up long-term when put into actual practice.

And if your mentor is a practicing and active real estate attorney, even better.