Just yesterday, the government said they expect home prices to drop twice as much next year as this year.

I think turning over anything like this to the government is just begging to waste our tax money.

I went back about 2 months later to get funding on a 2nd property I found and apparently they got cold feet as I was "new".I showed them my resume... running Government programs up to $50,000,000... team sizes of 120 engineers... full profit and loss responsibility... 3 college degrees including an MBA... but somehow they believe being a landlord on a property that is generated rents in excess of 4 times the P&I is going to be more challenging?

I also provide the brand and clor code for all paints used (plus some touch up will be left in garage for them) and also (when i have them) leave some tile, stone, carpet overs for samples and minor repairs.While I have confidence in my crew's ability to perform quality work and quality materials, one must realize that with government intervention, it makes our jobs difficult at best.

Sorry, I'm in Afghanistan on a Government computer with limited access.

If we didn't have the government completely distorting the market we wouldn't have to worry about this mess.

We execute a "Utilities Budget Agreement" as an addendum to the lease, which works are follows:1) We identify all the utilities (hydro, gas, water/sewer, cable, etc) and services (snow removal) which are to be governed under the agreement and set an amount which will be paid, in advance, into the budget fund each month by the tenant;2) When the utility bills arrive, we pay them and forward an electronic copy to the tenant so they are aware of their resource consumption.3) Every three months (quarterly) we reconcile the amount paid into the utilities budget against the utilities bills incurred.  

FUN FACT from the NPR episode: Calling centers from Utah are notorious for being scammers because the government doesn't crack down and they are political contributors!

She is a retired probation officer and currently works part-time with one of local city governments in the traffic court division.  

I have seen it myself in the eastern block when the government issued the new currency which was the same as the old currency but the exchange rate was 1000 of the old currency for 1 of the new currency.Obviously he is so far off base because he has never seen his property tax bill.