Back in Washington where we fix & flipped properties I did anything from general contracting from demo to finishing touches, managed project budgets & timelines to stay within our projections and SOW, raised capital for down payment on hard money loans, interest on loans and rehabs, worked with my hands (best at flooring, trim, caulk, cabinets, fences, punch list items) and was the real estate agent for acquiring and selling our flips.

show up 2. prof your funds to the crier  that's a Cashiers check made out to the Trustee service for at least the minimum bid plus a buck... most items in our markets open in the 100 to 500k range.. rare you have a sale for less than that . at least in the bigger metro areas.3.

Some inspectors will handle submitting the necessary items themselves, some you may be required to handle, it all depends on the county/city and the locale of the department.

The only other item I'll add is that if you buy in an appreciating market maybe in a few years (4-5 years) the property value will increase enough to pull out equity in a refinance.

They will inspect the project at those milestones and evaluate all the line items in draw requests before authorizing dispersal of funds. 

One often overlooked item for those who invest in Ohio is not filing the locality returns.Ohio is a unique state where they require locality returns to be filed in addition to the state return.

Make sure the contractor is tracking long lead items to keep the schedule on track.

As has been mentioned already, it takes too long to get the item repaired, jeopardizing rents.

Tenant still seems to believe I am responsible for their personal items.

Some real quick items here:VA Loans are for Primary HomesYou can use VA Loans for 1-4 unit properties (House Hacking)VA Loans have 0% downpayment (most of the time)You can have more than 1 VA loan (some people don't know that)VA Loans do carry a "funding fee" which is like a little "tax" to write the loan, but it is waived if you are a disabled veteran.VA Loans do not have PMI (and that's a huge benefit for us)VA Loans also have a very streamlined refinance feature (called a VA IRRRRL) which makes it super easy to refinance if rates were to fall (hopefully that will occur in the future)VA Loans can also be used by a surviving spouse.The VA may not give us the best health benefits but they can certainly get us into debt!