While shopping for homes, I think I inherently understood my strategy, but it took a while to really write out what that strategy is. 

It is a great read written in terms easily understood and gives the real truth about this and many other topics.

I never understood the very low cap rate markets.

Thanks for all the contributors to this thread, tax code can be really confusing and I am now doing my first 1031 exchange (I am all about learn by doing), but to make sure that I understood some of the information provided here.

Understood.

this is also what im trying to say. either dump her, or just stop trying to sell her the whole real estate thing. sometimes theyll jump on board, sometimes they wont. all i know for myself and most investors i know is that it probably took 30 seconds tops to sell the real estate idea to us because we just understood it right away. people who dont get it right away are not likely to get passionate about it anytime soon.

got license just after 18th birthday 1974.. made my first sale about 3 months in  900.00 commish in a 1.65 an hour minimum wage market. and was hooked. went on to make close to 50k that first year and never looked back.. making commission and 5X or better what my peirs were making allowed me to buy my first home in Milpitas CA for 79k in 77... sold that house 18 months later for 125k and never looked back. and fully understood that appreciation in CA is real and where its at.. :)  The rest is on my pod cast  # 222... 

I never understood what people were talking about, "bad appraisals," instead I've set records in the neighborhood and had banks question the appraisers for using too high of values, too many upward adjustments, etc. 

I never understood why buyers always think the seller pays the commission;  I have always considered that I - the buyer - am always actually paying the commission. just my 2 centsKelly

Anything late-night was either something that could wait until morning and the guest understood that, or something major enough it required a specialist (HVAC repair, plumber, etc) which I can call just as easily here in Utah as I could if I were standing in the house.Now if you were charging $300/mo and were interacting directly with guests and fixing small items (towel rack fell off the wall, etc) then that would be more enticing.