@Michael BernhardYou have come to the right place to connect with the wide array of real estate professionals and investors.

We lost our shirts in the process and sold the property (looking back a big mistake).I am now ready to jump back into REI, this time with my eyes wide open and with the intention of pursuing this as a means to secure future financial security.I am looking forwards to sharing my journey and appreciate all the great advice available here.

ROI does not mean much in real terms with rentals since expenses can fluctuate widely year over year.If you have negative cash flow you have negative ROI.If $415 positive cash flow translates to 17% ROI that means your DP is only $ 2440.

I haven't given up on out of state yet, but it will be smaller and nicer and with my eyes wide open.

It seems to me as a newbie that refinancing to get as much equity as possible pulled out of the rental will just raise the mortgage payment and therefore reduce your free cash flow, so I'm a little curious as well about why this is such a widely used tactic.I get that if you can apply the equity to a new property, you have more rent coming in, but you also have more mortgage interest going out, less potential buffer for capital improvements or maintenance, etc etc... less positive cashflow in general... right?

I purchased this piece of land for 12,000 in 2010 added dirt work and double wide on totalling 85,000, a year later I added a garage bringing the total to 104,000.

Then you've got to have reserves to be able to get started on the rehab before you get the draws so that's another couple thousand I would guess.Flipping can be profitable, it can be satisfying, but it can also be costly even if you get a good deal.Again, I'm not being mean, but I want you go get started with your eyes wide open before you get started.Stephanie

@Chris DragottaYou have come to the right place to connect with the wide array of real estate professionals and investors.

Generally and insurance policy will cover a very wide range of liability, where your main exposure is negligence I.e. deferred maintenance.

@Caroline BarnettYou have come to the right place to connect with the wide array of real estate professionals and investors.