The first is required, and the second is necessary to make sure the agent isn't wasting their time.

But as long as you budget for a solid make ready, it's really out of your hands, let the people live as they wish as long as they pay on time! 

Most plumbers do free estimates and Its a waste of time having us out if you are going to tire kick for a sub 10k job.

I'd rather be in the $100k-$125k a unit price point, in good locations, with solid B type properties that attractive good, long term tenants. 

So we are no way experience at all.Here is the info:- 3 UNITS - 2BD/1BA - 1 UNIT - 1BD/1BA- GYM ON PROPERTY UNDER UNIT 1- SECURITY SYSTEM IN EACH UNIT WITH 3 OUTDOOR CAMERAS- POOL WITH LARGE PARTY DECK- STONE FIRE PIT- SOLID SURFACE COUNTERTOPS- ENGINEERED WOOD FLOORS- STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCE PACKAGE-Potential Rent Calculated to be: $1,800, $2,700, and $2,800.As a noobie investor looking to get experience, I thought I would help my father move down and help run the property, find tenants, market, manage, etc. until I can systemize it and move back to Boston, MA (where we are currently located).

Hey Ben, I'm new as well so take what I say with a grain of salt. 1) lowest interest rate I've seen for invest properties is 5.5% - you have 5% 2) If you're dropping $10K for repairs, I would say you can drop your maintenance down to 5% 3) Ive seen monthly insurance costs between $50-$75 All-in-all looks like even your conservative numbers are solid with 11% CoC. 

Wholesaling teaches you to find off market dealsit teaches you how to do a solid ARVIt teaches you how to build a cost of repairs.It teaches you how to deal with sellers and to negotiate.It teaches you about contracts, dealing with flippers and dealing with sellers.Wholesaling is a MUST first step to ... well any niche in REI.So what ever your reason.. should not be seen as an excuse or to be ashamed of.

I just have a hard time believing an emotional rant that blames everyone else when it's up to the investor to make the necessary changes required to make the investment work.Your advice about not believing everyone is a good guy is definitely solid though.

I compare my services to those of the "competition" and the private Landlord: online payments, solid screening, no evictions in 5 years, over 340 rentals under management, member of NARPM and higher code of ethics, etc.3.

Hi Lupe,The most popular accounting software is Quickbooks, but honestly you could probably get by with tracking expenses in your own spreadsheet.Here's some things to consider:Tracking Expenses by Vendor - You will need to know how much you paid to each Vendor so you can file Vendor 1099s with the IRSTracking Budget vs Actuals - To stay on track you will want to establish a budget upfront and then track your actual expenses to forecast budget overagesSaving Receipts - You will want to save your receipts in case of an auditOtherwise if you don't want to waste your time building spreadsheets, there are house flipping softwares & pre-built spreadsheet templates that can help you manage this process.