If you haven't been sleeping under a rock then you know around the country, there are many areas that are experiencing a pricing downturn in homes prices.  Not to mention loan requirements have tightened making it somewhat difficult for home buyers to qualify.  Then add to that millions of foreclosures which in turn is causing many families to be displaced and looking for refuge.  Where are those families going? I have come across many that are going into more affordable housing ie; rental properties. 

Perhaps if you are one of those that wanted to wait it out for an opportunity to purchase an income property, become a real estate investor and looking for long term rental income, now might be the time to make that move. 

The demand for rental properties is pretty high and I anticipate it becoming bigger, why not put yourself in a position of helping those that might need to rent for a few more years until they can either get their personal financial situation in order.

Perhaps they might have some challenges being they might be the one that just had a home that was foreclosed on and yet your home might be the correct budget range to get them back into a home.  Of course, you want to take every precaution to work either with a management company to do a complete background check as always and/or do your due diligence on screening potential tenants. 

If you are in a position to leverage yourself to purchase as an investor, with rates at historical lows and home prices discounted, this might be the best time to take advantage of buy low, sell high club.  Once the market starts heading upward it's very likely you will be holding a nice real estate portfolio.

Now that FHA has put together an investors dream, you might find interest in the FHA HomeStyle Renovation loan program. This allows for repairs and improvements to a property that requires some work to be done!