True that no special tools are required, but these tools are very low cost and allowed us to do a whole room full of flooring in a matter of hours, with no sore muscles.

I get motivated when I see muscle men at the Gym or couple of my friends when I meet them.

Chris, You will need to work on flexing your "risk" muscle and get used to having multiple mortgages.

Whether you’re just getting started down the road towards fulfilling your real estate investing dreams or you’re a little more experienced, a good mentor can get you closer to the realization of your goals by showing you some of the tips, tricks, and other shortcuts that have fueled their success.The problem many fledgling real estate investors face – and some with a little more experience – is self doubt about their ability to put together profitable deals, as well as having numerous questions about when certain techniques would be most appropriate.These doubts and questions can easily be alleviated by knowledge, but a lot of real estate investors have trouble applying principles they may have read about, heard about, or seen in a short webinar.

Sometimes I think saying too much (ie, "if you're flexible in pricing/terms" or "if you're able to finance" or some witty message about alleviating the stress of owning a property) is not effective as it's too wordy.

The latest status quo is that there is a shortage of housing because of delays in building residential homes (apartments & villas) and thus has alleviated the prices this year (2008).

I understand that the seller can have more confidence that the deal will close with someone who puts lots of cash down, but can't those issues be alleviated with an approval letter from the bank (as opposed to just a pre-qualification letter).

It's about $300 and should alleviate all concerns (assuming you removed the mold appropriately).

Can a negotiation be done with bank to short this loan and make it work for a rehab and alleviate the current owner of any further responsibility.

Again, this opens up your options and alleviates the potential "what if" headaches that you will have when buying preconstruction real estate.