If it has been leaking, the floor will often be soft and flex when pressure is applied.That is a good start.

I  found the deal on Zillow, made an offer, and during the negotiations with the bank I soft sold the house on Craigslist and found a buyer.

A sponge or a brush won't rub the Bar Keeper's powder in and on like an old washcloth will. 

A solution may be to open a large soft money line of credit and do deals straight cash and use profits to pay off the 15yr note properties in 3-5 years.Just my thoughts~J

items - replacement soft water lines, a pressure reducing valve, a dozen cabinet knobs, etc.

There are plenty of people at retirement age who do not have $500,000 liquid (or illiquid) on their personal balance sheet.But that 28 number has a downside ... you have a long way to go in your life and lots of things can happen in your personal life and in your real estate business that will alter your business and goals.First, to earn $10,000 per month ($120,000 per year) on $500 K is a 24% return ..... possible BUT you probably can't count on that much return EVERY year in any investment (OK ... somebody will dispute that assertion).I suggest that your (soft) goal for the next several years would be to double your capital to $1 million by doing what has worked for you.  

I can try and use closet boards but they're fairly short.Also pine is fairly soft even if 1880's pine was harder than modern pine.

Rent Perfect does a soft pull which does not impact the applicants credit score.That takes care of the knowns.

I think it is very important to look beyond the hard data in screening tenants and also look at the soft data - such as, how they act in-person, their tendencies, social media, if their car is clean and things such as that.

Persistence is the key to success, if you fall down, get up brush yourself off and learn not to do it that way again.