Money Mustache and simultaneously from a Google search for "50% rule".I'm a contractor by day (current focus is insulation/air sealing and mechanical systems), but my goal is to be financially independent by 2017 at the latest.

As far as not being able to get below market value, well that's true, but as I expect appreciation to occur, in a year or three I will have made up for the net-loss up front, and over time hopfully the newer materials, mechanicals, and transparency of the house (e..g, no furniture to get in the way of inspections) will pay dividends in the bottom line.

Electical or mechanical certifications are required before occupying premises.3.

There are a lot of other books out there that give you the mechanics of real estate investing.

In my case I usually make it known it's me a single end buyer and it's cash.I do understanding the annoyance of having people visit every unit to kick tires.However, if the inspection - and here I don't even mean the actual structural mechanical inspection, I mean taking a look, an initial 10 minute look inside is not offered, and I have to basically make an offer blind, how would you calculate the offer number without having any clue whether it's gold plated inside or all rotted out?

Gas furnaces have some "kill" mechanisms - kill switches on doors, and if the draft inducer motor fails for example.

I was merely giving the opinion of a professional who changes several thousands of air filters a year, works on hundreds of units a year and has a thorough understanding of the mechanics of hvac systems.

PS: Tim Pommett graduated from the University of Florida with a Mechanical Engineering bachelors on May 2013.

The house needed a new kitchen and mechanicals but we ended up putting 70k in (mostly personal choices not really geared at adding value) so we completed it in September and we all in for $395k - well we got the appraisal back today for $575k and are ecstatic.

Vacancy and Tenant turnover is the largest expense of a landlord.We can have different views, just some of the reasons I choose to replace single pane windows and older mechanicals.