Most are routine purchase and rehab projects with enough profit to support the loan amount at 100% LTC, e.g. 100k purchase, 20k rehab, 160k ARV, per lender underwriting standards.  

I wanted to buy several properties but I told them I would do just 1 small duplex to test them out and see if I like how things work out and then I would buy many more.I own several businesses but I had never had an investment/rental property yet.

Putting aside the issue of whether the property continues to appreciate or levels out at the ~170k which we cannot judge, if you actually do the numbers, it will not work out to where a sale is a better option than continuing to enjoy the cash flow, reinvesting those funds in further upgrades or further investment.

It will likely work out better for you if you already grew your portfolio to a place where you are fulfilled and just want to give your excess.It is an admirable goal.

This is all very new to me - I'm trying to work out a lot of estimates and figures for things that I don't know how to estimate.

I've even made an offer on a distressed property in my last trip and had a great experience negotiating and trying to workout a deal.

If you don’t have the money to pay all of it use the difficulty of collecting to work out a payment plan.I am not saying you should make a habit of pulling a trump on contractors, but there is a reason when tenants trash houses everyone here says take the security deposit and eat the rest—it’s a pita to collect.

There hasn't been this huge wave of foreclosures or short sales as people are hanging on, doing cash-in refi's or doing work outs with lenders.

But I do sell plenty of ocean front condos to clients who need financing and they usually work out, just with a few more headaches. 6.

How did it work out?