Hey Tony Wooldridge As a new blogger myself, (following the rehab of our first rental) I'm still trying to figure this out BUT one piece of advice is to def. create a blogging Instagram account.

Focus on one or two big ones (Facebook, Instagram) and really build those up. 

This sort of value trap is a tale as old as time ... following Jay's advice above would hopefully avoid a lot of this ...

Indy is a tale of two cities... it's the best of times and worst of times and that depends 100% on you, your education and YOUR TEAM!

Furnace filters will not only show signs of a pet, but a yellow tinge can be a tell tale sign of smoking going on in the unit.If you get a report of something going on at the property that's in violation of the terms of your rental agreement, you need follow-up on it.

If anything, I would say the BP community is pretty good at speaking out against unrealistic expectations.If I had to pick a specific party responsible for floating the idea that you can get rich quick by doing a few easy flips, I'd point the finger at HGTV and the 'gurus' out there.But mostly, I believe there is always a segment of the population who will latch on to any fairy tale that promises huge rewards for minimal effort.  

I am essentially hoping to get success stories or cautionary tales on private money lenders and particularly find if anyone has recommendations on a company they use and are happy with.

As first time investors what are some of the tale tell signs of a bad property should we look for?

So the tale of the tape is that I can accurately predict my property management costs for my one market.

@Chris Eaker we need to hit the crafty bastard up here shortly and trade some more tales of deviant GC's and old houses.