A Common Investing Mistake...

Let's start with the first common investing mistake -- not understanding local market realities.

Not every property in every city is going to make money for you even if people are buying them for pennies on the dollar. Not every deal is a good deal. Pay attention to where the markets are going to continue to be better or continue to improve as opposed to continue to have problems.

When investing outside of your own local area, is it important to work with professionals you can trust to have your best interest at heart.

There is a difference between price and cost. The price can be right but the cost can be huge. There is a reason the price is right and it's because the property doesn't make any money.

If you can't find someone in another market who you can trust and you can rely on, then don't buy there unless you can go visit it for yourself. Know your market. Know where the good neighborhoods are. Drive through in the daytime and then drive through about ten o'clock at night. Take a look and see how it looks then. See what comes out from under the rocks and if you don't like the looks of what comes out, you don't want to buy there because it's going to be nothing but trouble. Know where the things are going to be improving, where they're going to build new shopping centers, freeway interchanges, new convention centers, hotels, etc. Find out the areas that are trending and capitalize on that.