The whole process of breathing new life into and old home or creating something from scratch gives me such fulfillment, it's what I want to do with my life.But I need help with my finances - how can I make my dreams possible when I'm struggling to pay down debt and am barely able to save anything?

Regarding Accounting, I would definitely look at Brandon Hall and Hall CPA - he's a frequent BP contributor, guest on the podcast and lives and breathes real estate.

I am looking for the guys who live and breathe this business with ACTUAL notches on their belts, rather than just completing the latest and greatest seminar (no offense, as I am a rookie too) to evaluate my proposed real estate strategy I'd like to begin implementing this week.

He bashes gurus while on the same breath selling his own books / materials.

TonyWell, if the bank excepts the offer (which I'm not holding my breath as they didn't last time with our contingent on inspection), the exit stategy would be if something more major was wrong with the house and if so, we could walk away.

Sounds like you've got a solid plan with some breathing room in place, and hopefully you get the offer you want this week.Good luck!

By doing that, my break-even number actually drops by about $10k, giving me some more breathing room.Question on staging: is it normally left staged until it sells? 

@Chad Kinsley,I would suggest sitting down an taking a deep breath.

In a low cap environment you can create serious equity by honing in on multifamily properties that you can breath life back into with cost-effective upgrades and good management.

breathe...