Yep, as with all investments it is important to do good due diligence. If it was as easy as plonking down cash and getting 20% return then there would be a stampede. If you're going down the US property path (and bear in mind the key point was to get a natural hedge against Aus$ depreciation) then most of them seem to have 4 key areas they market and it doesn't take too much to figure out where are "bad" areas and where there are "reasonable" areas.