It takes thousands of hours of "practice" to do it well. :)  It's also simple to learn just no where close to easy to execute. 

In addition to the commission that is technically owed by you, but in practice is almost always offset by the listing agent cooperation fee (usually 2.5-3.0%, at least in my area), there is sometimes a flat fee or admin fee changed by the buyer broker.  

I plan to make improvements to the property and raise the rent to market value ($800-$1,000) at the end of their lease.

@Wayne Walker, Unfortunately you cannot use a 1031 to purchase improvements on land you already own.  

My wife is on board with investing, but we have improvements to our own home we need to do, which we would need to also use the HELOC for. 

11:  Excess Funds12:  Redemption13:  Void Tax Sales14:  Tax Deed15:  Improvements to Tax Sale Properties16:  Renting Out Your Investment17:  Flipping18:  Earning 12% Interest19:  Ejectment20:  Quiet Title and Similar Actions21:  Buying from Land Bank22:  Tax Sales of Personal Property23:  Attorneys in this Field24:  FormsLast wordsTable of CasesTable of StatutesTable of Other AuthoritiesIndexSome AL investors who I want to be sure see this post include @Helen Kirk, @Jake Roland, @LeArcashei Moore, Account Closed, and I know there was at least 1 person I'm colleagues with on here who doesn't live in AL, but likes to invest in Auburn, but I can't recall who. 

There was a fair amount of gang activity there which caused quite a bit of trouble for a lot of the developers there initially but once they started hiring a lot of them and getting them off the streets, the resistance has improved a fair amount.

He and I are both clear that good practices and insurance are #1 but the LLC does have a purpose. 

I explained that I can fill in blanks of a form for a client, but can't practice law by interpreting his contracts with seller.  

Practically, if you are catching up big items such as improvement, small 1000 dollar addition to basis is not worth the stress or timing to dig if not accessible.