A good approach would be to assign values to the key contributions.

When the house is vacant, you can put deadbolts on the doors that need a key from both sides.

The more you have, the more options you have.You will need a construction team, an escrow company (or closing agent - attorney in some states), and a title company.Having access to REO and short sales prior to them hitting the market is a key leg up in this market, use that to your advantage.

Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.

@Brian ChristianAs Brandon said putting more on your profile, what type of small business and add a pic.Welcome.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere Locate forums of interest.Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

Get J.Scotts book on rehab costs, time lines, and order of doing projects.The order is cruial on some of the key components.

Put in the time.If anything, the key here isn't to ask, but to offer.

Review some of the articles that have been published, search with key word; also list keywords that you may wish to be alerted to.

If you have a strong historical capital and rent appreciation rate it might make sense to get into this market and wait for natural rent increases and appreciation to take hold and make for better investments if you wanted to stay local.You could also consider looking for turn-key investments in another city (Indy, Memphis, etc) where the returns could be much better - but the risk without having the ability to drive by the properties could be greater.

Some landlords actually offer "cash for keys" to just get a person to move out so they can avoid any further headaches.