There is a lesson in here with for the bright young men & women who are today being brainwashed on YouTube and other forums to detest and shun higher education and professional 9 - 5 jobs by “gurus” who obviously don’t want too many smart sophisticated people around on this planet so they can sell their generic advice for a fat fee.

Manuel Acuna: I've been guilty of this myself, If you want people to read your post you've got to cut out the fat and keep it short.you look to be giving great advice here.

I put tenants in one of my rentals a couple of weeks ago with 800 ficos, 2+ years on the job & a fat downpayment.

Yea I buy the fat marker, the stakes and the plastic signs and they do everything.

You actually remind me a lot of me :mrgreen: a couple of fat white guys who listen to gangsta rap LOL!!!

All of those things have tangible (but hard to quantify) value but if you're sitting in San Diego, Colorado, Michigan, etc. that tangible value drops to a big ol' fat zero. 

Those fat margins can be very tempting, but there is a reason they are giving it away!

One month for permits, three months for construction (but likely four to five), and then sold within another two months.Comparing the building department in Oakland to Berkeley: We acquired a lot in Berkeley, and that one is going to take a nightmare-ishly long time to get through the building department, but the profit is fat enough to be worth it.

So yes, if you can afford to put down $200,000 and see NO return from it for 25 years, but THEN you get a fat check for $1,500,000 (in 2040 dollars) when you sell (it should have been for $3,000,000, except for the great crash of  2025), then yes, many people use this approach.

Without an Exclusive Buyer's Agent Agreement, I'd say that realtor is out like the fat kid in 5th grade dodge ball!