He would tell me sales prices of houses selling for 500k-1M on Grandview Ave in Pittsburgh he had the chance to buy for 50k 30 some years ago.When i was about 18 i started looking for my first project(rehab) hoping if i found the right deal i could sell it to a family member there were 4 amazing houses i came across but could not sell the idea to anyone there was even one house an old lady gene a friend of mine was going to sell me for $2500 that was rentable as is i could not come up with the money and she was scammed buy the RE investor i learned so much from he saw a good deal and took it. the house hunt never stopped i started showing more houses to my mom and she became more interested. 2005 was a terrible year along with a slow work year construction wise i lost my best friend, grandmother and father then my house ,car everything but my dog due to funeral expense's i realized life was to short and i would not wait to get into this business anymore i moved back in with my mom and became even more motivated to get a rehab going i showed my mom a property in summer 2006 and she became interested and helped me get the house it was almost condemned we bought it for 6k and brought it back from the dead if you visit my myspace page its the yellow house on the slide show Ive since done 2 more and I'm ready for many more I've decided this wont be a hobby i sleep RE literally. ill live in the streets if that means i can keep building this dream.

Anyhow the house is no more then 10-12 years old so its in relatively good structural shape.

Some live in markets where 3% appreciation is a good year and 7% makes the front page of the local paper.

I have spent some time in the Phoenix area in the past and still have friends and relatives in the Valley.

Mostly folks who become RE rich but cash poor while they wait.I sent you a PM on a related item.

You only have to look at the executive pay pages of the IRS filings to realize the insanity of big companies.There are tax advantages to owning rental property.

The IRS rules for not paying the tax on the gain are not going to work all that well if you cook up a sale like you are suggesting.You might be able to sell to a related party (sister or an LLC you own).

A related issue is recording of the option.

I have been trolling the forum for some time, and finally decided to get more involved.There are so many forums related to Real Estate Investing now that you have to be very picky on where you place your efforts.Well, I am a Realtor, shocking?

You might post in some of the landlord related forums to get a discussion going specific to your issues.We bought our first house in Texas 20 years ago with seller financing.