I had a project behind the outlet mall. started and the perfectly wrong time.07  60 unit townhouse project we built 6 and sold those and still have the land waiting for the rebound Oregon coast is still pretty soft compared to RED hot PDX metro.But on the rental side I still get calls on my old sign there that is laying in the weeds asking if I have any rentals..

I have allocated a good budget for "Soft Costs" which I would put those fee's into.

I am starting a collection of articles on creating and improving "soft skills".When you are face to face with agents and home sellers, you need soft skills.What are soft skills?

I've found you can get all the bells and whistles (soft close, plywood boxes, etc) for cheaper pricing.

I only read an article on CNN, so I might not be properly informed but this is what the article said: "1-- Create a new state misdemeanor crime of willful failure to complete or carry an alien registration document. 2-- Allow officers to arrest immigrants unable to show documents proving they're legally in the country. 3-- Ban so-called soft immigration policies at local police agencies and allow people to sue if they feel a government agency has adopted a policy that hinders the enforcement of illegal immigration laws. 4-- Prohibit people from blocking traffic when they seek or offer day-labor services on street corners."

Next step will be to determine hard and soft costs and the max I can pay for the property if I want to achieve a 20% return.

What if the agent saw an opportunity in the future to make some extra money at the expense of the OP (for example, soft negotiation to generate a higher sale price) -- would s/he do it?  

you can't remove inquiries from Experian, on Trans Union you can by pulling your credit report through www.smartcredit.com repeatedly,,on equifax you can remove all hard inquiries except mortgage inquiries by pulling that report repeatedly.I hope the credit people dont' read this board,,on another board you sort of have to speak in code about "bumping", which is what you are doing,,the credit bureaus only give so much space for inquiries on your report,,,if you load it up with "soft" inquiries (like pulling your own credit), you will drop them off,,,but it takes a couple of months to get results.All 'soft' inquiries don't count,,you have to know which ones will,,but smartcredit works for TU and equifax itself works for equifax.What ever you do, never make any reference to what your doing to the credit bureau,,don't call and ask "when are my inquiries going to drop off",,,you will only cause yourself massive problems,,they don't want anyone to know it existmake sense?

My understanding is that this will be a soft pull.Credit Sesame will give you your Experian score,Credit Karma will give you Transunion, andEquifax Credit Score Card will give you a range.Here's a link I found from someone who walks you through the various sites: http://www.moolanomy.com/826/get-your-free-credit-score-online/

The problem with carpet pad in a rental is that it holds/traps liquid (water, soft drinks, beer, pet urine) that the idiot tenants are not smart enough to clean up.