She refused to transfer me to anyone else pretending to be the competitive source of reliable information.Was it me who didn't ask the question correctly or the rep who had no clue on what to ask their "help line" for?

@Donnie WhiteAs Chris mentioned, half the agents out there are PTA moms basically just pretending they have an actual job or are building an actual client base so they have some mad money and can lie to themselves that their husband, who brings home the W2 bacon, isn't the sole provider of their family.

I'm a little fuzzy whether he can write off interest on the heloc (let's say that's 10k and pretend that he can for the example.)

Let's pretend...House Fair Market Value "as is" is worth $120K. 

There is also an army of dirt-bag's selling false dreams pretending to be that but are anything but. 

You guys are all stuck on systems and guru talk...seriously, it is obvious that some of you have been burnt and that is fine...don't be bitter, and don't pretend to have learned everything from BP it has not been around that long and the blogs have not been that developed as long and for bill "financexmainer" starting in the 70's things was a lot easier then...the fact is a quality mentor is priceless.

When I analyze a deal, I assume 35% is going out for PM, capex, vacancy, and maintenance (we self manage, but I like to pretend we don't so that expense doesn't affect our business when we do need to outsource management).

We'll pick some properties, guestimate what we are willing to pay, and then go pretend to do it.

Not sure exactly why, but I was doing 10 or so houses a year when I was going on absolutely time wasting appointments and talking to pretender sellers, but now I look at maybe 2-3 houses a year and on average I'm buying 25-30. 

If I do call the employer, I find the number on my own instead of relying on whatever the applicant has provided because it could be the cell number for a buddy pretending to be the employer.