Took a bit of a parachute from a corporate role and not jumping back in full-time until May, so I have a pretty flexible schedule (at least 10-15 hours I can allocate per week if need be) in this time period, thus the motivation to get moving. 

I always try to be generous on expenses and light on revenues when underwriting a deal.It is good to see you are allowing for CAPEx ... though it technically a reserve, not an expense (meaning it is allocated "below the line" from Net Operating Income and not as an Operating Expense {"above the line"}).Also be certain to allow enough for Closing costs.  

If I only invested in real estate as a portion of my overall asset allocation I would look to REITs or an index of REITs or some similar vehicle.

It's basically just an asset backed loan with ALOT of paperwork.Side note:  If there is an existing loan or lien on the property at the time of refinance, the bank can either require they be paid off, or allocate portions of the loan amount to pay off the other debts in order to clear the title before they put their chains on it

Hello,I would like to put down laminate/wood flooring in one of the houses I own once the current tenants move out.The carpeting that is currently in place is on it's last leg, and the tenants have pets so I expect th...

I needed a new place to allocate some advertising dollars and decided to give Zillow a try.

If you are looking to learn anything about the flipping process as far as the nitty gritty goes, definitely allocate more time to it than less time.

But if you literally wanted to purchase only a cash house for $40K you're buying down so much that there would be no tax benefit.You do not have to allocate that cash in any specific manner however.   

I'd love to hear what others think is the ideal asset allocation!

Since I am paid enough in my W2 job to have excess income to allocate to investing, I should be able to come up with a way to acquire them before the five years are up.