They looked for bare dirt on the outside within 5 feet of the house and we had to mulch any exposed area( or have grass).Floors are a big area for tracking dirt in and a painted house of this age has lead in the soil so one of our floor samples did cause us to fail the first inspection (just over the limit) so get a good cleaner in before the inspection particularly if there has been work recently done.

Rates have doubled, while home prices have barely decreased in most markets.

People here seem to grossly overstate the complications and cost of maintaining a license but maybe that's state specific. 21 hours CE every 2 years where I live is all it takes to maintain your AB license, you can buy a bundle for $200 and cover that if you want the bare minimum... 

Hey Howard, The only way I am increasing rents is in 2 scenarios - 1) You are not cash flowing or barely cash flowing, and need the money to make repairs and justify extra expenses on the property.2) You are okay knowing that if you increase the rents, you might lose your tenants and have to go through the hassle of finding new ones (should they decide to move on). 

I am in the process of acquiring 20+ bare land lots through tax lien foreclosure. 

Probably not buying it, or negotiating way down due to the fact that I know im going to be making replacements soon.If I already own the place I am setting aside at least 10-15%, but understand if you haven't been doing that for many years prior it is barely going to put a dent in the cost of those items if they all need replaced at once. 

@Andrew B. are you doing any buy and hold investing along with your flips? 

It has a layer of pine straw over the bare earth. 

If the property is going to barely break even, well now you need to calculate the vacancy rates and your new home equity payment on top of that.

Let's say the SOL is 6 years like in GA.