We even offered to put down a pet security deposit and even use a product called SoftPaws (a high density rubber cap that is applied to cats nails to prevent them from scratching things, perfectly safe and harmless, plus, its better than declawing!)

I worked extensively with a big time REI guy here in Tucson and was very hot and heavy to buy my first home but have decided to hold off while the values keep slipping in our area.I still have a very strong interest in securing some properties domestically in the next year or two, specifically income producing properties.Beyond that I am always open to any extra streams of income (legitimate ones) so hopefully I can find some info here on markets I may not have investigated yet.

The buyer would need to secure financing (hard money or traditional financing), have enough to cover the payments until it sells, they need to sell the home which might take a couple months or more, etc...

It is always best to have more than one lender.In Charlotte, we have yet to secure any finance, and we have deals on the table ready to go.

Tell the security guard:"I'm a property manager for ____ st""I'm a repo man, I'm here to get a car""I'm here for the open house" :mrgreen: I've also used a lot of lines that failed horribly.

Only agents can attend or participate as there is a security law issue for deals across state lines.

This posting is officially my 200 post on Bigger Pockets.

For example, you completely ommitted advertising, management (even if you do it), maintenance (even if you do it), legal expenses, evictions, setout fees, damage done by tenants (in excess of the security deposit), entity maintenance, utilities paid by the owner during rehabs and vacancies, capital expenses (although not technically an operating expense), lawsuits, etc, etc, etc (I could go on and on and on).The good thing is that you're at break even, so this is not a disaster.

You make a loan and get a trust deed back to secure the loan (in CA that would be the 'normal' structure).

Call you officials and ask lots and lots of questions.