Otherwise you can loose money.One last strategy is by using video.

If you use a 30 year, nothing says that the excess cash flow you will have can't go to the principle, thus paying the loan off in 20 years or less.

at month 10 I decide If Im going to put the excessive cash into the rehab, (minor items i would have already taken care of)

On the plus side, it's in the agent's best interest to close the sale before the auction or else he looses any chance of getting paid.I can't imagine what contract you have with the agent unless you contracted with him as a buyers agent.

The more option the more interest the seller haves NOT to loose the property and pay on time.9.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS deal with a deliquent tenant ONLY when you have a court date...delaying filing the proper pay or quit and eviction court paperwork ONLY benefits the tenant.If you want to stay a landlord, get a good L-T attorney - NOT a real estate attorney - and follow what the attorney does and go to each and every court date so that you learn what to do and how to do it....most states are fairly easy and the court paperwork is available online...just learn the ropes so you are not so fearful and don't loose months of rent to a "professional" tenant in the future.

I think lending is loose -- what about all those "second homes" that are just accross the county line and "ride by appraisals" are the norm.

If you can not stand to loose some money you should not be geting into building spec homes. 4) As you seem to have no track record it will be tough to figure the total cost of a project... hence you will not know what your profit margin would be and what your downside could be if the market turned on you.The beaty of flipping is that once the place is renovated you can rent or sell.

I then did the rehab myself, working nearly every day in January, including weekends to get the property ready to rent.I use the term rehab fairly loosely in this case, because the rehab consisted of interior paint throughout, new carpet, fixing some plaster walls, new appliances, some minor DIY plumbing and electrical, and basica cleaning.

This seems very excessive.