Then, as the Fed realizes what's going on, they slash short-term rates by 50-100bp/meeting to prevent a collapse, rapidly decreasing the short end of the curve, and causing an artificial steepness to the curve because of all the QE going on.

Also, what about lawn maintenance, snow removal, common area utilities?

I have a friend that starting a lawn mowing business in high school, kept it through college and then sold it to his friend and moved the money to purchase another business - a serial entrepreneur.

I was just watching an episode of Flipping Vegas with my wife and laughing about the fake husband/wife drama and artificial renovation scenarios and numbers when I swore I heard the BiggerPockets podcast intro song during one of the scenes.

Needless to say that has artificially inflated prices for rental properties especially under $150k.So if you are looking to buy rentals- stay clear of the MLS and don't take recent sales comps at face value as a measure of ARVs; know expense calculations to know your true Net operating income; you will be surprised how it can often be way off than what most wholesales would have you believe.Let us know if we can assist in any way- our specialty is in providing data on finding & evaluating off-market deals.

1 handiman type person sounds reasonable, assuming that individual would be responsible for general lawn maintenance (grass cutting), general cleaning of hallways, etc. and everyday minor maintenance problems.In addition I would expect a PM to cost around $28K/yr. and assuming reserves mean Capital Expense Fund, again I would estimate at about $28K a year.I would definitely contract someone to fully evaluate the rehab costs and check with a couple of PM companies to get their ideas and costs.

I just closed on a house and the house next door has a for rent sign on the front lawn and the house across the street is a rental.

If it has a lawn charge for lawn service.

The primary, if not only, reason there has been a brief spike in subsidized demand for housing in recent months (2012), has been the GSE/FHFA endorsed REO-To-Rental plan, and associated securitization conduits, in which large asset managers have been encouraged to take advantage of government funded, risk-free financing (and entirely bypassing banks who have given up on loan origination due to legacy liability issues which have every bank tied up in litigation from now until Feddom come - just see today's Bank of America results) and purchase foreclosed properties in bulk, with the intention of converting them into rental properties.http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-17/och-ziff-calls-top-reo-rental-exit-landlord-businessIt is no secret that in addition to the well-known phenomenon of "foreclosure stuffing", one of the primary drivers of the artificial housing "recovery" has been the surge of hedge funds and asset managers into purchases of rental units courtesy of near-zero cost REO-to-rent federal lending facilities, which have taken out distressed inventory from the market in hopes of converting it into rental.

Aren't current interest rates artificially low ?