Kevin- your head is on right, imo.

In his post, Gilbert discusses why his plan can help solve the foreclosure issue head on while at a fraction of the cost of the$700 billion government bailout plan.

Greg hit the nail on the head.

That is why it is so imperative that landlords join together in their REIAs and landlord associations to fight these idiots in city government.

Most importantly, it establishes the fact that the contractor is *NOT* an employee, hence relinquishing you of the responsibility of managing the person as an employee and paying associated taxes.- Scope of Work: This lays out specifically what work is to be done, in as much detail as possible- Materials List: This lists the materials that should be used for all aspects of the job, including where they should be purchased, SKU numbers, and anticipated pricing (if the prices are off, call me to figure out what to do)- Payment Schedule: This lays out when the contractor will get paid, generally using 2-5 draws (depends on scope of project and schedule)

I'm heading toward closing later this month on this property and though I think I've got a decent deal here, a second opinion would be appreciated.I've found a SFH in a decent neighborhood, 3 br 2 bath, garage has been enclosed, 2 carports in the driveway.

No, it's not exact but you should be able to do that one in your head.

Develop a spreadsheet that will help you perform a takeoff on the specific elements of the project and associate costs to those tasks.

I believe that Todd Morgan is clean, but he does not do proper due diligence on who he is associating himself to and he is just getting a piece of each referral, from what I can tell.

Don't know what took me so long, and you can probably blame the present demise on me for getting in.I did well for the first 3 years and now......Anywho, any suggestions on how to keep one's head above water and wait out the present market.