It is basically the status of being given a direct personal phone line in the old days, and those e-mails get my quick personal attention.Having a commonly used website e-mail address given to everyone, for use by everyone does not meet my criteria for status greater then hot-mail, or GMail and deserving of instant' or greater respect.The thing that counts are the people behind the address, and you get good and bad with both types of e-mail addresses.

But these folks are counting on these companies to continue to exist indefinitely and to have enough money to support their pension obligations.

Believe me, I can count at least 10 local investors of the top of my head who I will NOT do business with because their word means nothing.

If there are a lot of available units, and a soft market, count on making more concessions.

You can avoid making novice mistakes, while learning from someone who knows how to do things legally and with integrity.Everything you’ve ever done in your life counts!

On the other side of the table, I was at $9200/year in taxes on my personal property with a contract purchase price of $426k...not counting the other assessments because it was a new development or the HOA...and this was Union County (Columbus area)...and that was high in my book.

You're in the right place on both counts!

OK Gotcha, that counts as a cash purchase correct?

 @Ian Middleton, I would consider a 1-1.2% a reasonable estimate for insurance in Houston (you sure need to count for flood insurance if the house you are looking at is in a flood zone). 

In the process, I learned that any credit pulls within a 30 day period only count as one hit on your report.