I have made a good career in San Antonio real estate investing by buying and selling under market value properties that most investors would never touch. Then, I owner finance them for maintenance-free cash flow, which has the added benefit of giving a hardworking family a chance to own their own home.

Most often, real estate coaches or gurus offer a lower-cost first seminar about flipping houses, which is just selling the next part of the program — the full real estate coaching system that might cost $10,000, $20,000 or more.

There are so many myths out there about purchasing distressed properties in what people often call problem neighborhoods. Raise your hand if you ever heard this before: “Don’t ever buy a real estate investment in a bad neighborhood.”

Nothing scares most home owners and real estate investors more than a house with a foundation problem. That’s understandable; a serious foundation problem can ruin a house — and your investment — if it’s not repaired in time. Foundation issues are particularly common in older distressed properties, including the ones I buy in San Antonio, Texas.

The first few years after the real estate crash led to a flurry of investors snatching up foreclosed properties, rehabbing and renting them out, then reselling a few years later at a profit. For some it worked out, but for others, the appreciation never materialized. My real estate investing business deals with foreclosures as well, though indirectly: I buy distressed houses, rehab and resell with seller financing (investing for pure cash flow, not appreciation). I never mind taking back a property.

A friend of John C. Maxwell, author of the book “Thinking For a Change,” observed: “The problem with popular thinking in business is that it doesn’t require you to think at all.” Most of us don’t want to do the tough work of thinking. It’s much easier to just follow the herd in investing and hope they thought it all through. That’s why so few of us are ever rich and successful.