When I bought my first property 30 years ago (aB&B) we had friends over for dinner one night.

I would take a couple days and go down there (preferably with a friend...rent a U-Haul truck and go get furniture from thrift stores, antiques stores, and even buy some new stuff.

While there are repurchase agreements on secondary market loans,if the bank does buy it back then they would hold it.Another reason not to sell to Joe, Bob and Joe are friends, Bob gets his note called, Bob calls Joe to be a straw man, Joe approaches the bank to buy and the bank agrees to a discount.

Ive never done a sprinkling system on a home but I have had electricians promise they will pass bc they know the current guidelines/codes/requirements so well.

@Ben Trageser Stessa is an excellent platform for tracking investors' income and expenses; it is user-friendly.

I just wish I listened to an old friend who used it on the silkroad.

He acted like a used-care salesman - trying to be my best friend at the meeting.

Our portion out-of-pocket was the $3K deductible.I'm friends with numerous apartment owners. 

Can you imagine taking a couple days off work, looking for a new place, paying for new applications, putting down deposits, renting a moving truck, finding friends to help you move, paying to clean your old place, and so on to “Save” $300/yr? 

The first thing I'd recommend is focus on a market where you either 1) currently or have previously lived, 2) have family/friends that live there, or 3) travel to/vacation there frequently.