I also think they were being overly polite while holding back something I suspect they know all too well...Contacting and communicating with a homeowner in foreclosure who still lives in the house is what I consider to be one of, if not the most difficult task a real estate investor can ever face.

I am curious how one goes about finding people who can and are willing to hold a promissory note with the intention of having it secured with a deed of trust, I have recently been tasked with this and have no idea where to start looking or even how to go about it?

a handyman can hang drywall probably, then hire someone to texture it if he does not know how.Some handyman work based on time estimae and wage, others estimate on desperacy for work, or how much they hate that specific task.

The successful investors are there to talk to other successful investors and to work together to keep the local government in check (keep them from passing local laws that are anti-landlord).

Buffalo even has its own task force trying to crack down on these people.

Which is the better option for the interior stairs of my three family?

We solve this by making it one of the last projects of the property and ending the day with one of the above tasks, after doing whatever else we came to the property to do that day.

If you make 100 an hour it doesn't make sense to do 15hr work yourself.Managing a property yourself will take away rest time from your other job and will start wearing on you.Maybe you do a hybrid of collecting the rents and the paying a consultant for the other tasks you need done.There are many solutions from your current situation.You could always renegotiate a new contract with your current company.You have to define if the issue is price or something else.

Ozzy,as mentioned above look for reputable hard money lenders in your own area and many lenders offer what Norris group does. at the end of the day with any investment you want to be very low risk and high margin.Most people look at real estate as high risk, high reward and I am very anti that, with every investment comes risk, now it all depends how you want to handle that risk, either by pass it(don't even invest into it) or simply minimize it by making sure its very low risk.Real estate investments are NOT passive at all unless you just hand over your money to someone and let them do every thing and make sure they pay you back plus interest and there is recourse, you also want to look into as if you ever needed to liquidate how fast can you be out and how much control can you have over it.

Next you either wholesale it which involves marketing, finding buyers, closing...all while trying to make a modest profit.Or you could rehab and resell it which involves properly setting your budget, knowing the market to determine exact repairs/finishes to make, lining up contractors, managing your budget, managing your contractors, managing your schedule to minimize your holding costs, finding an end buyer, with 100+ other tasks mixed in.Your comment about planning is dead on.