That "someone else" is *YOU* so if owners don't want to see a rise in dues and special assessments, they should be careful not to cause unnecessary harm to their units.  

Many investors seem to take the approach that a PM is just an unnecessary added expense that they can handle themselves, but I know from experience that a great PM will usually rent your property more often, for more money...not to mention take the daily management grind off the owner's plate...freeing them up to do more deals!  

Do not show w/o loan pre-approval and a letter for Proof of Funds being submitted with the offer. this stops lookie-lou's and unnecessary inspections. 

Waste of time and money to do unnecessary work.

Gifts are unnecessary and can actually backfire.

This leads newbies to chasing loan investments with greater degree of risk which often leads to loss or at least unnecessary risk.  

I did get blasted a while back on another thread because I recommended to someone to build a buyer's list first and several others commented that it is a sign of a novice to recommend building a buyer's list first and how it's totally unnecessary if you find a great deal because you will find a buyer and yada yada yada.

Good afternoon BP friends,I'm looking at setting up an SDIRA for the specific purpose of buying a single property - an undeveloped lot - and I'm trying to determine if it makes any sense to use an LLC and/or have "checkbook" control for this particular SDIRA.My initial thought is that since this SDIRA would be to buy a single piece of undeveloped land and then hold that property as an investment for the next several years, that the additional complexity and expense of an LLC and checkbook control would be unnecessary.

You will want to dig much deeper than internet forums or even the sales reps at most self-directed firms to ensure you have a strategy that will produce results without unnecessary regulatory risk or too much administrative overhead.  

You're definitely thinking the right way if unnecessary tenant loss concerns you.