My neighbor was in a similar situation. She speculatively bought 10+ properties, most of them downtown condos. She was renting mostly to relatives at a loss. She was making so much in real estate sales at the top of the market, that she could handle the loss and was flipping her inventory. Now she is losing everything and looking for another line of work. I agree with the sad state of affairs of the profession. I think the banks seem to prefer to have the homes occupied rather than deal with brown lawns and vandalism. Once there are more real estate corrections and the houses begin to sell, I am sure the banks will become more aggressive about moving out the previous owners.