Look at it this way: If they cave for you...they will be flooded with wholesale requests they simply do not have the power to accept.

There is still dirt supporting both ends of the pad where it meets the neighboring pads, but I'm concerned that that supporting dirt will cave in and the sidewalk, level now, will tip or --I don't know the term--subside?

Of course it would be the year I finally cave and buy a property in LA...Well yeah, anything can cash flow depending on how much you put down.

@Betseat Getachew @Aaron Gordy & @Cave Johnson are right that Austin is expensive compared to most of Houston and Dallas, but since you want to house hack I would focus first on what town I would want to live in.

Tell that to everybody that lives in an HOA or apartment complex and has gone to check their mail and found the whole block of boxes pried open with a crowbar.My friend, you need to go live in a cave.

Yesterday I received the appraisal report and although I feel it’s a touch low (of course) I am still delighted with everything.

I don't usually do that but there was a flood that caved in a garage foundation wall during the due diligence period so definitely made sense under the circumstances. 

I'm tipping for the service provided, not the meal.Well...if you're meeting the diner's waitress at the motel out by the interstate exit every Friday for some afternoon delight, you might still tip for takeout.

Roof had been caved in for like 4 years.

You can't cave in at all to these contractors you gotta put your foot down and if they go over the budget they're the ones that lose out not you.