This is very important to distinguish because if you have income resulting from the property and you have expenses, you can write off expenses to the extent of your income (I believe this is accurate but someone correct me if I am wrong please) but you may be limited in your ability to deduct your losses against other taxable income resulting from your "other career".

Labels, titles, descriptions, etc are used to distinguish one group from another.  

On the other hand, well-done desert architecture, landscaping, and vibrant colors are awesome, and frankly a very easy way to distinguish yourself from the million or so "meh" properties around the valley.  

And having a full time job, going for a turn-key solution doesn't seen like a bad idea to me.Economy of scale when fixing up propertyDeveloped networks of wholesalers, PMs, and contractors etc.Knowledge of the market and different neighborhoodsMy question is how do you distinguish the high quality turnkey providers from the ones that will give low returns, or worse low-ball you?

Most delinquent taxes are mailed to so if you are interested in one property you can distinguish yourself by being unique and not a normal yellow letter.

:)Yes, Bill Gulley is hitting that nail right on the head; computer software these days can alter the document so well that you would have a hard time distinguishing a falsification.

Your question, @Shanna Zeiset, and some of the responses here, are good examples of why it's dangerous to distinguish between a hard and private money loan.

This way you will learn to distinguish the good from the bad and therefore prime your way to healthy returns.

So how can the distinguish whose using what?

The 50% owner-occupancy rule is actually specific to an investment purchase, so it's really key to have somebody who knows how to distinguish Fannie/Freddie guideline from an overlay.