Many of those gurus got to where they are by not substituting piecemeal learning for true education.Having said all of this, I think the combination Of a really good (not weekend quickie) Guru, and BP can be a great path for success.

Just to emphasize - I realize that even if I had the historical data, it's not a substitute for doing due diligence.

In my experience, Lowes labor prices are usually a little higher than what I would pay an independent contractor so if you use the Lowes prices to calculate your costs, you should be fairly safe in your estimates.Unfortunately, there's no substitute for experience so you won't know exactly what things are going to cost until you do a few projects.

I'm sticking to my preferred commercial lender, the substituted collateral/cash in/cash out method, probably through 2012.

The terms get substituted, but they are different. 

Unless you are doing a rent-to-own situation and they are claiming mortgage interest on a substitute 1098, perhaps?

We bought the note/mortgage, substituted council, scheduled another foreclosure sale, and bid the minimum to get title.

Do you understand the benefit of "substitution of collateral"?

Auto extension agreementsA list of reminder clauses to be used when seller agrees to finance; Subordinated agreement, Early pay-off discount, Substitution of collateral, First right of refusal, Principal mortgage clause, Interest only clause, Delayed payment terms, Seller option to buy back, lease back, Prime rate clause, Stutter clauseBeing ready to do business is a good place to start when getting into this wonderful profession.Good luck

When most others use it, I'll have to substitute "an NOI number for the property divided by the offering/purchase/value price of the property at some point in time."