Regarding hourly charge, I do think 325 for paper work is bit expensive.

You have to consider electricians charge about $100 per hour, plumbers are close to that, and construction crews go about $65 PER MAN on the job.

A short while later my mother had to sit me down and explain "predatory lending" as I was apparently charging too steep of penalties to my brothers when they failed to repay their loans in a timely manner.My own son, though not yet three, participates appropriately in the real estate business ... his favourite activity is walking through potential properties and he often notices things we, "big people", miss {like the big hole in the floor under the kitchen counters ;) ... where apparently the kitty-cat lives}.At this point, I invest a portion in his name on all new properties, but as he gets older, the plan is to enable him to make those decisions himself.

They found a contractor who can do it for $900 but my contractors think it is too expensive (double what the others charge).

I do know of some people who will collude with a tenant to increase rent (e.g. once you find out they are on section 8, you agree with the tenant you will charge her $900/month, instead of the advertised $800/month.)

Over piad top heavy administration is the real probelm, 120 Kfor a guy who is in charge of parking and grounds maintenance at a state college.

You're money did a bit of the work, but most of the profit was probably through not charging for your labor.Year 2, you gained more knowledge in the industry and got a raise on your time and earned a good ROI.At the end of year 3, the amount you can earn on your labor stops growing so quickly, so it is very hard to double 500k.

Hedge funds, after all, charge 2 and 20 and still make their investors a healthy return.The main thing to be concerned with here, with this or any investment, is if you are considering all of the costs of the investment and if you are allocating risk properly.

If you start paying utilities, the 50% rule no longer applies. ...Others have tried to state that, only to be told otherwise:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/88/topics/37271-need-expert-advise-on-this-figureData I saw that justified the 50% rule showed 55% expenses when including utilities.. which makes some sense...If you're charging $600 for rent and utilities cost $150... you're cash flowing $300 or 50%... now if you include those $150 in utilities, you're still cash flow $300 but now on $750 which is 40%, 60% of your income is going to expenses.Unless you're charging the tenant $2 for every $1 of utilities you expect to pay for them, the 50% rule can't hold... simple math.

I did not move forward because he was charging fees up front that was my first real picture of yet another fake lender.