It was a cash out refi, 20 year term, 5/1 ARM at 5% interest. 

Without having to pay an arm and a leg to some REA group.

Our HRBlock guy is good but extremely conservative and does not save us enough in my opinion plus he charges us an arm and a leg as well.

Our HRBlock guy is good but extremely conservative and does not save us enough in my opinion plus he charges us an arm and a leg as well.

Once you have done that you will be armed with the information necessary to analyze both options.

Once it is running smoothly you do not need to be there that often but when there are problems it's nice to keep the distance short when self managing.Distance is not an issue when you are a arm chair investor but...... bankruptcy is just around the corner when the property is across the country,things go bad, and there is nothing you can do to stop the carnage.

Regarding things that aren't written, you're not exposed legally but it allows the person you're dealing with to exercise actions that may better his position on your expense since there was nothing in the contract that had explicitly explained the situation.  

Then, armed with this comprehensive scope of work, you can go out and get bids from contractors all working off of the same project specs/RFP. 

Figure 7-8% on an extended ARM or 30 year fixed.  

Mine is a 20 year ARM, adjusted every 5 years.