Since RE is unique, it is difficult to classify RE to other assets and since we have an active RE market we can generally have a sufficient population of comparative investments, which is why I don't compare RE to securities such as stocks or bonds.

I am a landlord in NYC and Long Island, land-lorded for 35 years and rarely used agents to do rentals, let alone use MLS.Up to 8 to 10 years ago, I used classified in the local papers.

Btw, I found mine in a classified ad in the sunday newspaper with a little ad that said " Hud Agent, Call me."

Although, at least in Michigan, legally you can only do 3 deals before you are classified as doing real estate as a primary vocation or business and need to be licensed.Any way you look at it....to be successful in real estate you will need to do your homework and put in the effort.Bill

Mike Those are great questions Mike and it only takes some experience in this arena to answer them and know how to classify them for future examples or deals.Your Scenario #1: That would be classified as a B property.

If you know of a script and I use it, I have looked at Esvon, Mojo Classifieds and DynaPortal.

Are you classifying that down payment as a loan at the time of purchase or at the time of refinancing?

The house is classified as a 1 family and since it is on a river in NJ it can never be re-purposed to a 2 family.

The income will be classified into interest, return of basis, and gain.  

There may be a lot of issues with heirs or beneficiaries or debtors and you don't know what the circumstances are.When your scouring your local adjudicated newspaper, in the legal notices section of the classified's the probate that is published, the administration process has already begun.My advise is to look for those estates where there is no attorney involved.