This is NJ, where even if I knew for sure which tenant was doing it, there's no way I could get them evicted for premature trash.

You'll learn a lot from the ones that they, not you, made work.Alas, many new people, opportunity detectives who pre-maturely refer to themselves as investors, find a single property, try everything in the world to squeeze something out of it themselves, but fail to monetize it and eventually loose interest.It's still about attitude AND action.

I realize this question is a bit premature, since I haven't read both your books fully yet, but its itching at me, and I had to ask.

And my son and daughter n law have a premature baby in St Louis hospital" They are looking for a 3BR for "about $350". 

You can break up the progress payments small enough to solve almost any cash flow issue for the contractor (I pay my drywall crew daily) but until the material is on the property and/or installation is occurring, there isn't a need to pay premature invoices let alone writing a 33% check weeks before a job starts.There are too many contractors that start asking for big deposits at the end of the month for me to feel comfortable prepaying for services in large amounts.

Instead, they will buy Drano, or unravel a wire clothes hanger and shove it down the drain to dislodge the clog.Good luck proving that your prematurely rotted out pipes are due to Drano that has long since washed away, or that cracks are due to the clothes hanger and not other causes.My general rule for tenants is exactly what the home inspectors rule is.  

You start tossing any assets into the trust, you will be cutting your own hand off prematurely.

When you consider that you may still do deals with those you've mailed to, calculating this could be premature.

LOLI do not get too much into politics and the big picture too much.Dennis I understand your position.My mom a few years ago had a full knee replacement.The surgeon that operated on her is one of the best in my half of the United States.Medicare covered part of it and then her secondary insurance picked up the rest.She was one of the last patients with Medicare that this Doctor took.The reason he no longer was taking Medicare is not only were they going to start squeezing them on pay outs but the bigger issue was control of the patient care.For instance my mom has one of the best knees with no issues and full range.It's the same the professional athletes get for sports etc.The surgeon was telling us Medicare was fixing to dictate to them what brand and quality of knees they would have to surgically install in their patients.All because they want to buy cheap crap to make a buck and buy in bulk.The surgeon said he is not putting in junk knees from Medicare and then the patient sues him for revisions,infections,messed up internal parts that fail prematurely when the problem isn't the surgeon but being forced to use an inferior product.More policy thinking they know what is best but creating more problems than solving them.

After recovering for a couple months my wife had complications and our son was born two months premature.