We spend a lot of time at the end of each year celebrating our successes in REI and planning for an even better year next year, but sometimes we forget to take stock of our worst move of last year.

The key is to avoid a low appraisal in the first place -- once the appraisal comes in low, there's a very, very good chance there's nothing you can do about it at that point.Here's a controversial post I wrote on the topic last year:http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2011/01/19/controlling-and-conquering-your-appraisals/Btw, second appraisals are much easier than the first (assuming the first came in at contract price or higher) -- just hand a copy of the first appraisal to the second appraiser and say, "You're doing a second appraisal for this property, as this is an FHA loan.

There seems (or seemed) to be a lot of controversy surrounding it.

If you recall the recent controversy over the Treasury Department trying to force pricing differences for Fannie/Freddie loans based on DTI, they reason lenders were firing back at that was that different underwriters...even within the same lender...can interpret the DTI (or DSCR) calculation differently.

That land has more value, beyond market value, to them, since it is contiguous to their current properties and would allow for seamless expansion. ...Or, when celebrities purchase multiple properties around their personal residence, to house their employees or just have additional security and privacy. ...there are many more examples.

Route 9 has many touristy stops and is the main road to take the north land during Carnival, which is heavily celebrated in many of the small towns I mentioned in my post.   

Similarly, my first trip to Atlanta was for a Atlanta Hawks basketball game to celebrate my friend's birthday.

I recently celebrated my thirtieth birthday, got married to my amazing wife, and had our first child!

And of course nothing obscene or distasteful, I always include nothing controversial, political, etc. whatever that means, but allows you some leeway to deny consent for things you don't want on your property.

I find this is always a controversial topic, much like whether you should put a King bed in a room if you have the space vs a queen.