If your PM doesn't take their time and check tenants backgrounds, thoroughly, you're in trouble.

Technically I could try to recover the money I spent on a title search, etc. but I don't bother.

Find someone who is experienced whether an investor or someone with the background of working with/managing investment properties that is willing to share their experience. 

Just to be technically correct... there is no such thing as Solo-IRA. 

However, I was listening to the BP podcast the other day and remember them saying that technically you can leave before a year.

I'm 30 years old and have a strong background in residential construction as well as lots of experience renovating our own home.  

I am a mechanic or engineer- my background is in the construction fields, I owned my owe business for 12 years and lost it all in the last market crash and said I would never do what I did before- now I am at a hospital working in engineering- I do have a rehab but my stamina is a little less than what it was 14 years ago- I'm thankful for my day job but I know its not where I want to be so I feel the pain- the biggest thing you got to do is find the right deal- something your day job can afford ie.. rehab, foreclosure a deal that makes sense- bite the bullet and buy it- you will have to get dirty, do the work your self and don't fall in love with the property, find the best market move for it and get rid of it or keep it as a rental, do it againkeep crunching numbers and looking at properties one will be there for you there everywhereGood Luck!

Do you think it'll add value to add a technical bedroom, regardless of how they use it?

Andrew Lapham You technically only need to season for 6 months before you pull cash out although a common overlay that many lenders have is that they want to see 12 months of payments on a private mortgage.If you're going to be forcing a lot of equity through renovations, it would be a good idea to hang on to all of your receipts and invoices for a couple of reasons. #1 It might be helpful to have those invoices to justify a steep climb in appraised value from purchase to when you refinance over a relatively short time period.

Then How do you pick which was technically first in that was qualified?