I feel like while I understand the investment theory, I know very little on the practical side of ownership.

If anyone were renting to us, they SHOULD be far, far more concerned with the cat.I would MUCH rather allow a tenant one large dog than 2 cats.In practice, I allow both.

He was concerned with the practice and thought I was "equity" skimming and essentially planning to defraud consumers out of their money.I came across the Washington State Attorney General's page http://atg.wa.gov/hb2791prjune08.aspx#.UyfgGfldWJEand it does seem that wholesaling could be questionable.Is there ANY legal information/experience someone could provide me with that could help me calm my nerves and get started?

I thought I read on here that its a common best practice to get rid of external hose bibs, you just can't trust people to not leave a hose on it and give you frozen pipes.

Sure, they could, but without a strong relationship or a deposit in hand it may not be the best business practice.

Practice running numbers on houses on the MLS.

Is this a common practice or is it frowned upon?

The 50% rule is very easy to work with, and I agree with @Jon Holdman that it gets terribly dicey to start projecting with too much detail, especially on things that can be unpredictable.Coming from a family of lawyers (3 in the sibling pool, none of them practicing on the West Coast) I tend to rely on counsel more than the average person, and I don't want my analysis to be off.Thanks, guys!

It is an unfair or deceptive practice for you to demand that a tenant prepay rent when a tenant is not obligated to and did not, in fact, occupy the dwelling, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by both parties (940 CMR § 3.17 (6)(d)).

Agreed... practice with family funds first and limit how much you borrow from the HML so the points and interest don't eat you up..