Agreed w/ razor, this has been the fad, everyone and their mom is trying since before "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"
Thing is, there is alot more people out there with alot more money that can afford a smaller margin of profit than you, on deals, because they have a bunch going at a time.
You can get lucky though if you keep your eyes open... There's always a few other guys with their eyes open, too, though....
My dad made his retirement on rental properties. If you can do the repairs it's the way to go. My childhood was filled with painting houses and killing mice and shit. Buy a shit house, make it look nice, wait for the neightborhood to improve and then sell it.
At the top my dad owned 12 rental house and a couple duplexes. He sold them all during the housing boom and is set for life. That's my goal.
Some of the houses we had to completely redo after the renter had lived for 10 years($$$) but it was still bank. Start young, ASAP.
Pop took out a double mortgage (Homestead appraised @ 450k, bought @ 100k) and paid 7 of them off at a time....smart mofo...
Real estate is where it's at. I'm currently located right outside the chicago burbs, urban sprawl is coming my way....Cheap cornfield land here I come