On paper we were slightly in the red but much of that is due to one-year expenses/repairs & allowable transportation costs to get up to the property for work days ourselves. 

Ensuring transparency and efficiency in managing owner resources is critical1.Clear Communication on Costs: Provide owners with detailed breakdowns of repair costs and explanations for necessary expenses.

Think about capex and repairs. 

Easier to predict expenses - typically no major repairs unless from association3.

. :)Anyway, I like your strategy of driving and looking for houses in need of repair and sending handwritten letters and contacting rentals for the reasons you gave.

After a few too many midnight leak repairs, she wanted to offload it but didn’t want a big tax hit.

I buy/cash flow day 1 and let the tenants make the cosmetic repairs.  

They will try to run 2 kitchens and that can mean clogged drains in your wet bar kitchen.Be sure there is personal recourse when you need to sue them for $40k in repairs above the deposit.

Hi Chris from the U.P. of Michigan.Congratulations on deciding to get into real estate investing with your first Buy, Rehab, Rent, Re-finance, and Repeat or BRRRR and you are wondering where to start and who you should add to your team first.It is good you have cash or cash equivalents to buy the property and complete the repairs.As far as who to have on your team first, I would say an investor friendly Realtor who can help you find deals and introduce you to the rest of the team like a good property inspector to hopefully let you know about potentially expensive repairs early before buying the property so you can buy it well or not buy it at all.

This was an Oct 15th acquisition and took about 2 months to clean out and repair/rehab.