One of them saw what was most likely a black squirrel (we have them in this area) in the back yard and is convinced it was a rat.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut from time to time ;-)

And many of the more aggressively configured offerings are coming under pressure and have stopped making distributions, required unplanned capital calls from investors to avoid default.So I personally wouldn't consider investing in either of those two sponsors.

been on the market too long""But I am excited about this next house""Yeah, man, I still can't believe Tony Romo finished so soft again""Look at that squirrel"I could go on but I won't...

My intention is to only sell for strategic (after tax return increase) or catastrophic (unplanned) reasons.

The one thing I did not hear being a newbie is having the ability to know a deal when you see one all while having squirrel syndrome without the analysis paralysis trap.

The number of costs you have to account for and the crazy unplanned costs that come up was one of the biggest things I learned early on.

Ask them for any information that would be helpful as an owner such as what are their reserves, how much do they increase their reserves each year, have they had any extra charges for unplanned "emergencies/expenses" and what they think of the neighborhood.I fix mine up better than most in the area and notice my tenants stay a min of two years and I have had one tenant up to 10 years. 

But when unplanned for things like rampant illegal conversions occur, it overwhelms the infrastructure.When you do conversions, particularly adding more housing units, you're acting as a developer, and have to take into consideration the wider community, and what effects you do has on it.

Mostly squirrels, you can see my squirrel launcher in the background.