You should expect that you may have to take a little less, but there seems to be some cushion room there.What is a "leapfrog" property?

That way I have my hands in 3 different aspects... appraising, real estate sales, and flipping homes.Once I get a nice cushion, I am definitely going to get in to some rentals.

Is $100-$125k enough of a cushion to invest full time if things get a little slow?

Money Needed: $435,000 (price + repairs + closing costs + cushion)Low Est.

With this cushion, we roll in ALL closing costs, construction interest reserve which gives you the benefit of making no payments during construction, and also a $10,000 home equity line of credit that you have full access to at completion in case of any potential negative cash flow from renting or temporary vacancy before it sells or rents.

After selling costs, I see you taking away: $15 to $18,000.That seems like a nice cushion, leaving you some room should your repair estimates be off.

Whereas you have a lot of cushion on the property yielding $2.70/sq ft.

If, after running the numbers, I felt there was enough of a cushion to handle unexpected occurrences AND walk away with a healthy profit (I would say $20k minimum clear) then I wouldv'e considered it.

I've established some relationships with real estate agents as well as wholesaler's in the Valley, but I'm interested in hearing both sides of the argument (i.e. folks who have used a real estate agent and those who have not).As a bit of background - This will be my first property that I purchase and expect to finance it using an FHA loan (3.5% down, leaving a cushion in my bank account for any unforeseen expenses).

I would not go into the plan assuming that a place appreciates enough to get a big enough equity cushion to make a bank bite on that.