Perhaps they are gambling on the fact that many towns in the area have eventually done away with rent-control or have allowed renovation programs so rents could be raised?  

See how many similar places are up for rent which is your competition and the current rents.2) Get the inspection report and do an oil tank sweep and get (3) General Contractors to give you written bids once you write your own clear scope of work for them.3) Then crunch your numbers and your conservative timeline to complete to see if the deal will work based on the Bigger Pocket rulesAnything less; you are gambling and hoping and praying this deal may work and since this Iis your first deal it doesn't usually turn out good.

If they can get a much higher return then the 9% and the investment is smaller then they might take a gamble with the money but it doesn't affect their overall liquidity as a small percentage of their worth.If you want premium lending rates you might have to approach friends and family.How much money are you trying to get per investor??

BiggerPockets is Now Able to Target Advertising Based on the Following Criteria:- Occupation: We can target ads to show for a user based upon their chosen occupation on our site.

From MY perspective and MY EXPERIENCE, getting the first profitable deal (regardless of the investors chosen strategy) is very important in the confidence level and rapidly increases their ability to continue and succeed.

They told me because the laws are that once I'm married the other person is entitled to what I have and that if my spouse for example had a gambling problem I'm responsible for that debt too unless I had in place in South Africa what is equal to a prenup over there. 

@Bryan Gamble I am working on my own website now.  

You see, when no one else does it, a person that does indeed do it, can take the top position for their chosen keywords or keyword phrases that are already being searched.I didn't send this reply to insult or argue, just responding to your post.

If you can create (develop, redevelop, flip, fix up) a place for people to live that "feels" like a million dollars (and you have chosen a market that supports million dollar valuations) you will get a million dollars for your work.  

Have you chosen an agency yet?