You have to tell me, but let's say it's $1,000If I'm a buy and hold investor looking for positive monthly cash flow of at least 10% per year, I need to make a net profit of $125 per month if I were to pay off the existing $55K mortgage using a conventional 20% down mortgage, 6% APR based on the following:Mortgage owed: $55K20% down = $11K + closing costs = required investment (say $15K)10% ROI on investment = $1,500/year = $125/monthNew mortgage owed: $11K with a monthly payment of $386 principle and interestEstimate taxes and insurance at $175/month based on 3%/year of market valueMonthly PITI cost: $561/monthOther property management costs: $200/monthTotal monthly cost: $761/monthMonthly rent: $1,000Monthly profit: $239/month = 19% ROIInvestor is looking for 10%, so you give the investor $125 and you split the rest of the monthly profit between you and the seller ($114/month)Takes 175 months (over 14 years) for you and the seller to make $20K, but you've made a deal where you've sold house so there's no mortgage on the seller's credit (didn't do subject to or seller finance), there's no out of pocket costs for you or the seller, you both have monthly income for the life of the mortgage and you can actually create second and third mortgages against the property to secure your position, so if the new buyer sells, you must be paid your $15K and $5K respectively.There are a whole bunch of assumptions that you will need to verify and tighten, but the concept I am trying to show is that you can always make a deal even when there doesn't look like one. 

It has created some issues with lenders and have caused the credit markets to tighten.

They learned their lesson on that stuff so lending has tightened up, but if you've got the credit and assets you can probably find someone to do one relatively easily. 

I have been involved in several deals with completely unrealistic appraisals for a variety of reasons, such as lack of comps, the type of loan used for financing which can stipulate different valuation models, or a flat out bias by the appraiser against dirty/dingy houses.The only value of these types of courses may be to tighten up your ability to make adjustments to available comps.

And of course, with all new contractors or handymen doing anything bigger than tightening a screw on a door knob, there are some great ways to safeguard yourself: -Hire top rated workers (Angie's List, Home Advisor, or referrals from other investors or contractors) -Ask for and vet proof of license, bonding (if applicable) and insurance -Get contracts with specific scopes of work, timelines, and payment schedules that match up to completed work.Wow.

I too would vote to tighten up your ship.

they are definitely trying to tighten down on the spammers, which is making it harder on everyone else while the spammers quickly find the loopholes.

Just need to tighten up on my lease agreement.For those of you who are coastal, and renting homes that comes with removable storm panels, do you have any provisions in your lease as to:WHEN should shutters be installed/deployed?

They won't call about ever loose knob or squeak, heck they might even pull out a pliers and tighten it themselves.

He is very discouraged as it all tightened up while he was in college and now that he is able to invest, it seems too many roadblocks have been put in place to build any momentum.