The asking prices in and around Tacoma are in our budget, but nice turn-key houses routinely escalate to 10%-20% over asking price (no joke).

@Michelle Apple Columbus and Cincinnati routinely hold the top spot for least days on market in the US...Columbus is intentionally underbuilding and 40,000 new homes short of demand...more like 70,000 affordable units short of demand.

I have found that my morning routine is now probably twice as long as it was before.

It seems like most people have to wait till the current renter moves out, then spends a week or two painting, routine maintenance, then start showing it to renters and typical a month or more of rental income can be lost in between renters (assuming they find someone quickly).   

Other than that, you'll want to account for water, trash, insurance, common gas, common electric, cleaning and routine maintenance, landscaping, snow shoveling, and of course, like with buying any kind of property, plan ahead for future expenditures.  

I still had to study after finishing the class but they covered all the material and gave me confidence going in to the actual exam once I got to a point where I could pass the practice exams routinely. 

As a start I've been going over notes I took while reading, making a habit out of reading through BiggerPockets and other investing sites a part of my daily routine, and started looking at listings for properties and try my hand and at calculating potential profitability for them in my spare time.

It feels like there's so much wasted time on something that's so routine but mistake prone.

I see your a broker in WA, if you routinely search for those types of properties please PM me.

Hi @Cj Powderhorn, The general formula to determine the amount of taxable gain that you have is your gross sale price - routine selling expenses - adjusted cost basis in the property = taxable gain.