Needless to say, I quit using online leads.I tend to be an introvert so I've never done cold calling or door knocking. 

If he thinks the only way to landlord is via paid-off properties; HE's NUTS.

I look forward to continuing to learn from the BiggerPockets community as I navigate my real estate investing journey.I’ve had some success on the eastern shore of Maryland, though even that market has started to frankly become expensive, there are still pockets of potential growth both rent & appreciation, thoigh it’s becoming harder to find, also there is a massive rental shortage out there, a county I just put a property contract on, literally has 3 properties for rent right now, but it does make rental comps quite difficult, outside of that I’ve started looking a little more into western Md and some southern pa markets but still trying to get a feel for them, overall I think in this market places that are affordableish and have some draw will do well with the continued wfh + affordability crisis but keep in mind while I think the eastern shore is actually fairly safe market for the most part a lot of rural areas definitely have boom bust potential and in theory more risk than dc metro, though the low price points do by definition tend to mitigate some of those risks. 

If I have 4 properties of my own really I have to convince IRS that I have to put 750 hrs to be considered as RE professional why not something less as every year I spend enough hrs to find tenants/screen them/coordinate with my handyman/cleaners/ HOA to manage all my properties..I am tending to believe that if I show some minimum criteria for hrs in my RE work IRS would be nice to me :)

The goal is to try and do 2-3 of these projects/year. margins are too low. you need to work on finding land cheaper. look at 500 pieces of land and underwrite them and the exit. we did that for the last 8 months while we have broken ground on a few deals and we focus on where can I exit at the highest which tends to be urban core infill lots. we do this in Columbus Ohio and expanding to where I moved in miami soon. the margin you have is too low though for new construction. how many new builds do you have? 

The tenant was every bit as much in on the side deal as Kurt, and Kurt still had to credit every penny.Enforcement types of all sorts tend to go easier on the cooperating/complaining party.  

Did they progress through the lending/collection ranks to hone their crafts, or are they glorified stock brokers that have simply bought and sold paper without really knowing the nuts and bolts of the collection/foreclosure process.

thereby allowing these plumbing updates to pay for themselves).I've got the toilets and faucets all picked out (because I have personal experience with these and I know which ones are good) - but I'm not sure what to do about the shower heads...I know that shower heads are an item that can be the biggest money-saver (because these tend to consume more water than anything else).

Same goes for number of LLCs and what to fund them with, since bear in mind that CA tends to be more cumbersome and expensive to have LLCs than other states.California is generally more cumbersome than other states when it comes to taxes and filings.

Tends to be landlord friendly can evict in a month or so if needed.