I distinctly remember there were things they did with the hot water heaters, and they were advocating replacing the rubber hoses on appliances that use water (such as dishwasher, washing machine, etc) with some kind of metal hoses that are virtually indestructible.There was a goldmine of information about good preventative maintenance steps for rental houses...

I got bored, with all of the down time between cashing rent checks and fixing toilets at 2AM so I went to graduate school and also became a an engineering consultant.About 10 years later I took a full time job again and am now a professor in manufacturing engineering, own a virtual manufacturing company, a media production company, and because of real estate investing, this year I will donate more than my take home pay back to the university I work for.I can honestly say that I retired at 26.

I'll take a slice of cashflows, expenses, and appreciation.Question: If we have the opportunity to put down virtually nothing to acquire the property and fix it up by use of leverage, should we do it?

Bob,You do not know me, and to hide behind a keyboard and and make baseless accusations is despicable. 

Have you ever considered a virtual mastermind?

One option would be a virtual mailbox.

Anyone that can scope this area out virtually and tell me if buying a property for 20k is a bad deal even though it looks like it could sell for 55k after a bit of work.

We are planning the retrofit of a larger complex and I am contemplating providing WiFi coverage (with a separate (virtual) SSID per unit) throughout the buildings to cut down on the interference ... it would also allow a tenant to stay connected to their own network even if they were in the laundry.

I mean, I know it can be done....if there are people doing virtual wholesaling, and buying rentals while deployed, then I'm sure there's a way for this situation.  

Virtually everything he touched with regards to finish work, I've had to hire another contractor to come in and fix.