Just having credit cards open should not have a hugely negative effect on your credit- however, having large balances on those cards and insufficient income to cover the payments would.

Wash, rinse, repeat every 3-5 years.Personally, I think the best thing you can do is to be open minded and ensure that you have options.

We are also open to taking on some modest renovation work.My first experience with real estate was as a young teenager, when I accompanied my grandparents as they shopped for a small, single family homes in my childhood neighborhood.

You could sell the note on the open market but it would command a substantial hair cut.So there are really two answers/options.1.

The forums are a great place where you can virtually rub shoulders with giants who have tons of success and often openly share what they have done.I wish you nothing but the best!

I'm going to have to research all of those a little deeper to get a better grasp of it all but thanks for opening my eyes to that.

No open food anywhere. 

I realize this is a very open-ended question since there are lots of variables, but I'd appreciate any thoughts on what would it cost to build a single family house in Bellevue/Issaquah area.

We stopped at several open houses and had an opportunity to chat with real estate professionals there.

Spend your Sundays just going through open houses and analyzing the areas.