Also, a contractor will be more focused on price than design and they might take shortcuts during construction.

Most will actually make the logical choice of making their car payment first because their car can be repossessed faster than they can be evicted.So, why do most landords follow the shortcut income qualifying method of "income = 3x rent"?

A developer takes a shortcut to just get it done and then moves on.

The Playlist Beta Membership will help shortcut the learning curve with unlimited audiobooks and ad-free podcasts.Playlist Beta subscription accounts are separate from BiggerPockets accounts.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes, but don't haphazardly purchase anything without due diligence.

Thanks DrewI read your blogs beforeIf you're covering orlando/central florida, definitely I will appoint you as my property managerAs you mention, it will take time to educate myself, so for sure recommendation will be very helpful shortcut

I live on the beach and do all my business in the Cleveland markets, all 100% hands off, 100s of deals.All the best, It’s amazing to all of us who have spent years and years learning, gaining experience and expertise, accumulating capital, living through booms and busts, attending meetings, exchanging ideas with other investors, earning profits, trying to cut loses, and building our reputation and business, how these “actors”, positioning themselves as mentors, continually attack a rather specialized area of real property investing, and, by repeating a few simple (an often incorrect and or misleading ) statements, continue to convince people to spend $40k or more with them and that if they spend that money they will successfully be able to shortcut the years we spent in perfecting our craft. 

That was the initial point of the post really, I wanted to see what other guys were doing in order to put together a pretty solid system before I sent out my marketing haphazardly without something in place. 

Obviously, cosmetic items are easy to see, but if you are talking plumbing work on a whole house, it can be easy for the plumber to short cut without you knowing.  

If your taxes were not overly complicated then you shouldn't have so many questions.Trying to take a shortcut to save money by doing the taxes yourself may cost you more than if you just pay someone who knows what they are doing to get it right the first time and not create red flags that would get you audited.This is just my opinion, sorry if this is too blunt.