I should have also added that the reason I am pulled towards real estate as a wealth generating mechanism (I.e. the appreciation aspect) is that I bought my first house with ~$20K of my own money in Baltimore (supplemented with 6K of grants), bought at the right time and did a little fixing it up, used the proceeds from sale of Baltimore home to get into the lower end of the market in quickly appreciating Seattle.

I usually spend my time, if the seller is present, keeping him/her out of the way if needed, pumping tenants for info, taking measurements for room sizes and drawing floor plans with doors and windows and noting appliances and taking pictures.We look for value add properties that are in decent structural and mechanical condition (except for one deal that we got really cheap).

Why are you re-installing mechanicals on vacant properties - after they've been stolen?

Are the separate mechanicals for each unit? 

It might be a value-add for prospective tenants to know there is a mechanism in place to leave early.

I often find that, when talking about future possibilities, and the mechanics of behavior and the economy, often end with with an open ended conversation.

All of the mechanicals, including permit dates and any identifiers.

Can someone please let me know the mechanics of the recording process on an owner-financed deal?

I wish we had this mechanism up here in the NW It would allow many more projects to get built.

I would make sure they are both up-to-date on repairs and mechanicals before investing in a third asset that could have repairs come due all at the same time as your others.