I've read, and been told, that I will need a Real Estate agent for certain tasks such as, accessing the MLS, running comps, etc.I have been checking out the local Real Estate sites here in town and one of them actually list properties with real estate investor friendly keywords.Comps on the other hand I think I understand but since I am just starting out, I am not too confident of my understanding or assessment.Mark, how would you recommend I tackle these tasks and gaining more understanding and confidence in these areas?

As a newbie, should I even attempt to tackle this?

Many here advise just jumping in, I say rehabs are much more involved and risky than an inexperienced person should tackle without an experienced advisor.

Let me give you a bit more information as I would really welcome your opinions (or others) on what order we should tackle the improvements.

The third did exactly what he said he was going to, was on time and seemed to have a game plan for how to tackle the rest of the rehab (this is the guy my realtor recommended).

This is not just to get a better price if you do not tackle the job yourself but also to get different ideas and perspectives from a variety of contractors.

I do have $4,500 in a savings account (about 3 months reserves), $2,200 in a money market account, and $23,000 in a non-retirement Mutual fund, I could just knock out the Home Equity and C.C. with that but I don't want to pay the long term capital gains or add it to my income for the year or I start to lose my rental expense tax breaks over 100k.Thanks for the input guys, got some debt snowballing to tackle!

Although I loved the home and it was in a great area, we passed... just too much to tackle and not worth the expense.

However, hydrojetting can work wonders on old cast iron pipes and its alot cheaper than new runs.If I am tackling a major remodel, and I have a chance to change out old cast iron vent stacks to PVC I do.

It looks like you took appropriate actions and hired professional teams (pest company, lawyer) to tackle the situation.