You need to be financially secure before buying all those nice liability things.

I allowed the tenant to stay, but doubled his security deposit because he now posed more of a risk and I wanted enough money in the coffers to cover the cost of eviction if necessary.

Chad,Your flip income will be taxed at ordinary rates plus Self-Employment Tax(Employee + Employer Halves of Social Security and Medicare).Did you do this in your own name?

Angela -I just did a quick web search in your area and it looks like there are a couple of REIA's.

Secure yourself an ample due diligence period and then use it to interact with the tenants to see how satisfied they are with the building.

Since they don't have a mortgage or any other instrument securing my property - what power do they really have at the end of the day?

Maybe keep your reasonings why vague...say it's for "home improvement", and when they offer secured against your home, just say "no thanks".The 0% check offers that credit cards send out are not expensive.

Personally I would put the sign up because they work and then do my best to secure the property.

When I asked to borrow, I gave them my preferred lending terms, so they knew I wasn't trying to simply take their money and run.For my deals, I started with the cash from my friends to buy a house outright ($18,500 purchase; friends cash was secured with collateral OTHER than the house).

Until I found out all of my securities licenses were useless unless I could either sell enough life insurance or conduct enough stock transactions to make a living.