I have a reasonable number here that gets carried to Schedule D line 19.

There are some very lucrative properties though that will need to carry flood insurance.

Frankly, I would have been happy with no increases :D so a -8% was gold!

I cleared $10k on my first one.We ended up clearing $30k on the second one.The last flip was very stressful for my wife and she wants to keep our finances (HELOC) out of the next one.I am going to look to find a financing partner to cover the carrying costs of the next flip.On a $400k house (average for my area), the total investment would be $85-$95k and would be paid directly to the lender and subs/suppliers, not to me.I can bring the lender, as I have a good rep with the one I use.I will do all the rest.

I am not sorry that I did it however, the interest rate was like 28% and I don't want to be carrying that around for long.

Or do you ALWAYS get the seller to carry?

Not all that glitters is gold. 

Two other small pieces of advice that are gold, as far as I'm concerned:After you've covered the basics ask, "Is there anything you can tell me off the record?" 

You can not do that with many other assets like stocks or gold. they are what they are.

If you cant, sinking money into a rate buy down seems to be a fools gold IMO.