I bought half dozen the ran out of cash :) but being the non long term holder that I am I sold them to Germans for 10 to 20k profits in 30 to 45 days.. that's how we ate.. 

Back and forth really ate into our profits. 

After screening the tenant. yes they made enough for the rent to only be 40% of the after tax income (not just 3x gross income) their debt payments ate away at the other 60% of income which would mean that when you add utilities, food, misc spending they would be in over their head.

Premium was also around 3k and ate deeply into the rental profits.

I started out renting a modest in-law that came with furniture, ate out mostly on social occasions, bought clothes at discount stores.

When River Forest sold for $550k, the holding costs and interest ate up all of the profit leaving us without the construction start up costs (HML works on reimbursement).

We were able to keep cost low, but it ate up every single weekend for almost a year.

JUST SAVE THE MONEY DONT GET TO CREATIVE SPECIALLY THE WAY YOU ATE DOING IT.

Hi DavidLooks like a great initiative, i am based in Australia and find that making contact with an realestate agent in KC very frustrating The majority of agents tend to want phone contact but because of our locality and time difference email is our prefered way to communicate.I currently have a rented property that has been hastle free but now my agent has advised she is leaving KC, What a nightmare finding her in the first place.The property is located at E 40th st,Kc, MO 64130Any assistance you can offer will br greatly appreciated.I would offer my email address but this is not allowed unfortunatelyCheers Lance 

If you are dead even on it, and it's reasonably low miles and say less than $10-15k balance, you have probably already ate the losses, so there's not a whole lot to be gained unless you're not going to drive any more.