Hello this is my first deal I'm tying to close all by myself.

I do not think I tie a good time to invest in anything where the cycle is against you because values seem to be up and it tends to be a seller's market and it is hard to compete against cash buyers.You might have to do more offers to do as well before the cycle got in this place.  

Your vacancy costs are directly tied to the price of rent.  

I unfortunately have been tied up at work so couldn't get away.  

Our one employee will go to a house if both of us are tied up.

Here's what I've been told:- Realtor is your gateway to accurate MLS data (unless you become a licensed agent yourself)- The wrong realtor may speculate and potentially provide inaccurate info, but they should be, in general, one of your stronger resources for things like FMV (fair market value), DOM (days on market) and other details associated with local/current trends- www.irr.com seems to be a great resource for national and local market reportingI hope this is helpful - otherwise, I trust an expert will comment soon enough :) ...Btw - my family and I love to visit your area in the summertime (7 presidents)...sorry for the annoying seasonal traffic from us North Jersians!

I currently own a few rentals in different states, but since getting my real estate license i have started looking at family and friends for prospecting new deals as a new agent.I have a family member who has been renting houses for as long as i can remember between her and her boyfriend, but they both have some bad credit due to falling behind a few years back after both losing their jobs and juggling life for a while tell they found new jobs.I am a bit unsure about this idea still due to the fact that i have been running numbers on multi-family homes to purchase in the near future and turn into rentals, but i want to help them if it's a viable idea...I wanted to get your opinion on maybe purchasing a house based on their needs and running a lease option on the house for them to purchase down the road when they have the credit again....Right now they are renting a 3/1/1 for $1200/month and there is a lot of 3bed houses around them that are in the 100k and below that would meet the needs of them, im just worried about buying the house for them tieing up my own money and not have enough financing available to continue purchasing investment properties as my rental income from all my current rentals is my only income coming in right now as i start the career of an agent.

I just don't want to tie up someone's time or make an implied commitment until I have a better sense of the market.  

We are going to need to build stronger connections with brokers. 

Try not to get tied down with marriage and a family along the way.