But what if the sale falls through 1-2 years down the road and the money has been spent?

That said, I always heard in every podcast that EVERYONE would joke and say that for their first house they would pay too much, take on too much, estimate wrong, and any number of other mistakes that would happen.Obviously I want to not fall into the same trap!

COC falls apart post acquisition.  

Otherwise you may fall into the trap of just learning and learning and learning and never actually doing.

As a newbie, I fall into the "I don't know how to find those deals but I am willing to work to get them." :-)I'd be delighted to hear how to be more efficient in finding deals.Thanks for the feedback!

Bidding very high and then hammering the price down with inspection and appraisal is such a common technique that a sharp agent won't fall for it.If it were me, I'd counter the offer with clauses that would protect my seller against those attempts.

Some people actually fall for it.The other question you need to answer...why is your tenant looking at rentals on Craigslist???

I had to turn back around and do some digging to get showing again and  finally all fall in place.I know there are lots of investors who wants to flips.

You’ll learn how Paul discovered the vital difference between investing and speculating, why falling in love (with a deal) is incredibly dangerous, and the huge real estate gamble that Paul made that cost him $40,000.

Bonus features in this thread....My money's on the Marine :)I have a couple of SF properties in HSV (I'd been stationed in Montgomery some years back, but made a trip to Huntsville last fall before investing).