Knock out your consumer debts and don't incur more.

If you put money up front require they have a surety bond for your job especially if it is big bucks, ask for liability and workers comp insurance certificates, check their license out, use a company that is registered at the Secretary of States office and check their standing, also Attorney generals office is making alot register for consumer protection these days.

I am a new investor in Fort Worth, Texas.I have a background in Residential Construction, Consumer Finance, Retail Banking, and currently am a partner in a Land Service Company in the Oil and Gas Industry (I am a Landman).I purchased my first property in July, did the rehab and put a tenant in it just under a month from closing.

Even if there is not a bust, the damage has already been done to the psychology of the consumer.

In the mean time, that vacant house will be scrapped, vandalized and possibly set on fire by a squatter crackhead.So you have a small chance of that 5th house producing income someday, and a very large chance that the house will consume cash to maintain and require tens of thousands of dollars in rehab to undo the damage done to it.There are thousands and thousands of houses in Detroit like this 5th house.

If your household income is $520k, you are in the top 1%.According to the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, a net worth of $416k puts you in the top 20% of American households.

Normal, regular and modest 'pest management' is clearly part and parcel of 'operating expenses' under Pest Management under O & M expenses.

Just seems like this latter list of options would be much more time-consuming than actually calling property owners who have already posted their property for sale.

I used to have a general practice (family, criminal, civil) but I have limited it since 2008 to consumer debtor bankruptcy cases.

Patricia,Everyone in 2008 can think DR Horton homes and the banks for the homes the consumers bought when the bank was financing any three-legged dog that could write and then DR Horton was giving $10K to $20K back to the home buyers.