He made enough in 4-6 months to let it sit vacant the rest of the year.Which he pretty much had to do.It is very management intensive- he did it himself.

Because such firms are the processing layer, and need to sign every document, cut every check and receive every deposit, this model can become cumbersome and expensive for more time-sensitive and transaction intensive investments such as direct ownership of a rental property.There are also two plan types that will provide you with Checkbook control over the funds, meaning the ability to directly transact out of a bank account of your choosing under the umbrella of the plan. 

I play professional basketball in Europe and I am only home for the summers.

These are extremely cash intensive endeavors when the finally come due.  

This would be for buy-n-hold investments.Up to now I never really thought about it before because my 1st rental, although built in 1990, I bought as my primary with no intension or thought of it being a rental.

There are so many markets out there with intense competition and overvalued properties, so I was happy to see finally here that it looks like properties aren't AS over valued as other markets in the northeast that I know.

Philly has some great sub-markets with varying ROI potential depending on what areas of the city you know best, how extensive of rehabs you are willing to do, and how intensely you are scouring for deals. 

So my current situation is:$480 a month for rent plus $60 in utilitiesI just analyzed a deal and am curious if this makes sense or if I am missing something:Here is the deal and the numbers:Offer would be $185,000, FHA Loan used with the welcome home IL program giving me a $5,000 to help with closing costs and down payment at 0% (for all intensive purposes lets just say that's tacked into the loan and un accounted for other than the all I will need to bring to closing is the $1,000)my mortgage would be 30 years at 4%My offer would include the below:5% seller contribution to closing costs and down payment (FHA allows for 6% of the purchase price, but if I am wrong please correct me)it is a 3 unit with 2 2beds and 1 3 bedcurrently the taxes are $3,100I guesstimated insurance around $1,550 (no clue seemed decent considering my experience)current rent from the two 2 beds is $1,100 and currently i live with two roommates who would move in with me to the 3 bed, (each of them currently pay $480 for rent and $60 for utilities) if I offered them $250 - $300 a month plus we split utilities for our unit 3 ways they would jump on that offer)if I guess that my total income will be about $1,600 a month and my expenses for PITI would be about $1,250with the above I am making money and saving my $480 but now when I take into account Vacancy / Cap Ex / repairs / prop management (even though I will be managing this) I am guessing I would be negative about $150 - $200 (income = $1,600, expenses around $1,750 - $1,800)Providing I live here for 3 - 5 years is this a deal worth considering?

I don't personally have experience with direct marketing but it sounds like that would be a very labor intensive process.

I had a high school basketball coach who wasn't easy to play for: he had the practices jerseys made with the term No Excuses on the chest.