As I understand it, he basically applies for loans on my behalf and presents my situation favorably to the lenders.That seems like it would be very helpful, although paying him $10-20k for such a task seems very generous.

I don't know if it's socialist but it is a clear example of the corruption we're in.This bailout is the equivalent of dumping taxpayer dollars into WorldCom to prop it back up, taking Bernie Ebbers out of prison and giving him a bonus, then blaming 401k's and tech stock investors for their scandalous greed.

Will, I invest mainly for cash flow and any appreciation that comes in the future is a bonus.

It has been an added bonus for my newbies that I am there to help them out with any problems.

It galls me even more to see these guys walk away with big bonuses.

Thank god for the bail out .. the CEOs almost didnt get there $5M XMas Bonus!

The bonus that I found a few years back is when the rental industy was a bit sluggish, due to large amounts of first home buyers leaving their rentals to purchase thier first home, I did not have a giant decrease in rental applicants.

The only positives seem to be value-added bonus points to your tenants - saving them a trip to the laundromat.

I finance it the balance, in this case 9%, 30 year amortization, 10 year balloon.Some people think I'm too generous with my interest rates, but I'm getting 9% on the $64K loan.

Just make sure your cost estimates are generous and you or someone else really checks into the extent of the damage.