Lots of great, very insightful, experienced advice in the replies, so I won't even try to play the parrot here.My advice, first step, go to a local smaller bank that is local (5 branches or less) and get a 50%-70% mortgage on your home, and roll that right into an account at the same bank.

Therefore they can bring in less money than a equal house being lived in.So the $s say my goal is flipping but play the renting game.

You will incur legal fees and the tenants who know how to play the game will squat til the end to make you even more miserable.

I used to play the stock market, but with the relative risk and reward to investing in real estate, why continue, right?

===================================Yes, there are many more, with decisions that go both ways, that we can play the "case study" game for years with the "I'll see your two veil piercings and raise you an appellate reversal".

You'll have to decide what risk tolerance you are comfortable with and how readily available other sources of cash are if you really needed it in a pinch.I close in 2 weeks on a duplex that has been redone in the past 5 years but the home itself is 100 years old... still not sure how I'm going to play the cash flow as I'd REALLY like to be aggressive for the next 5 years while prices are down and money is cheap.

Lenders and servicers do sort of know how to play the game.

That is not how to play the mls game.

Renters refused to spend their money on what is clearly landlord's fault.renters' treatment One of the guys was supposed to leave for good one morning, even though landlord was coming next morning before tenant left, he tried to "play" the situation.Tenant cleaned the room, no damage.

If you want to be a real estate investor it takes CASH to play the game.