My experience is in general not to mix business with private.This can cost your family member a friend.And as your family member friends has neither money nor credit it can end up ugly.I am a newbie myself so can not comment on the basics / details of Rent-to-Own structure but I am sure there are other more experienced BP members who can help you on this.Peter

We messed up and used it for more personal days than we should have this past year (won't make that mistake in 2011) so we have a mixed use property but our CPA's have fouled up our 2010 return and then redid it and messed it up even worse.

If you mix money together, well just how did you keep track of which amounts came from which tenant?

What about contractor that want to do a single job, like put in a flooring or install a countertop, I'm in the mix of hiring two installers and they're both asking 50% upfront, though one lives down the street from me.

We have purchased all of these through the MLS with a mix of REO's and estate homes.

Their feedback that I have seen has been mixed, but mostly due to them being a big servicer.The lenders I typically have been using have slowly been increasing their fees over time, so nationstar has the best GFE in terms of fees so far, so I'm leaning towards giving them a shot...Thanks,-Hao

Many people use the terms "simultaneous close" and "double close" interchangeably, though here is the most common differentiation I hear:- Simultaneous close is when you use your end-buyer's funds to fund your purchase, thereby eliminating the need for you to bring any funds to the table;- Double close is when you bring your own funds (or borrow funds) to close the first transaction (where you buy) and then after that transaction is closed (minutes, hours or days later) you resell to the end-buyer.I've never heard of "simultaneous double close" but my guess is that someone is just mixing up the terms above and actually means one of those two things...

That said, carpet and rentals are a bad mix, IMHO.Dings in the wall definitely get charged for.

This can open up some liability to you if they are doing side jobs with your materials or just getting jobs mixed up.If you gave me a budget, scope of work and I could not do it all within that budget, I would suggest ways to save $$ and still get the job done.

Separately my husband and I carry an "umbrella policy", aside from our primary home and auto insurance.So now that we're adding a rental house to the mix, I'm wondering what our protection strategy should be.I will talk to a lawyer as well (though I'm not certain if I should talk to one locally in WA where I am, or in TN where the rental house is - I suspect WA since that is where the majority of our assets is)..Anyway, I'm thinking the best option for us right now is to increase our umbrella policy, if needed (and of course to obtain adequate landlord insurance on the rental home).