And when you say public school district is excellent, most don't realize how good it really is - especially by California standards!

ChrisAs an old Vet myself it's a pleasure Chris.In fact one is still active duty in SK & is here for a month staying with us.We got him an excellent deal/return with the money he had saved.These kids are hard workers & just needed a break.

What do you do to keep yourself focused, motivated and productive, while in a holding pattern?

Long term, it's an excellent strategy.

In LA you have to screen the heck out of your tenants, but the good news is that the demand is astronomical for well located product and people can't afford to buy so the tenant pool is generally much better than in lower cost markets.Like I said, I am ready to diversify though.

So I started to put together my yellow letters and mass-mailing post-cards in MS Word, fully expecting to mail-merge everything direct from my handy-dandy Excel sheet.

If your target was a 10 cap but the inspector said a new roof was needed now for 8,000 you would go 86,940 purchase - immediate capex (8,000) = 78,940 offer priceMost investors shoot for about 100 minimum a door clear after anticipated costs and debt service per month.Remember the costs average out to 50% but some years you will use more and some less but it will average over time close to this.Big ticket items you need to build a cost reserve stable of when those items will reach past the life expectancy and plan accordingly.If you look at the BP file vault on here there is some free stuff and I believe a cost reserve stable in excel example is on here somewhere.

You'll find BP to be an excellent resource for you.

Does anyone have a simple excel program that I can track spending and reciepts while I am rehabbing?

Excellent post.