Pay to play. 

Of course my kid wouldn't steal from me... the tenant is playing dumb..."

Anybody else playing this sandbox?

It's been 2 weeks and the kind of applications we are getting are far from ideal...bad credit scores, delinquencies, hard to figure out how much do they make (meaning self employed in some cases) are some of the issues that made me reject 4 applications so far.My property manager (who helped me buy the house) has posted the ad on all relevant websites, we have priced it at the lower end of the range at which similar homes are listed in the area, but still not happy with the applications.I would be interested to hear what folks, knowledgeable about the Austin market, think...is there more that we can do?

Length of the primary lease term, level of lease guarantee, location, quality of tenant (national,regional,local) plays a part.There are many different types of lender (local,regional,national banks, insurance companies, CMBS, conduit, credit unions, private family office lenders,etc.) each has their own criteria within the space to do a loan on a property.It would take me many hours to write a response explaining all the variances.When people become my clients I already have the retail commercial attorneys, capital markets lenders, on and off market database of properties,etc. 

It is not a fast play, but it adds up if you do enough deals. 

My question to (seasoned or fairly new) investors is, what is your criterion for what you consider an ideal investment and at what point do you decide that it isn't worth the time and effort?

This is the ideal situation.2. 

I only purchase value add deals personally, so I am looking for deals that will be able to perform at 9 or 10 caps within a year of my re-positioning play.

Apparently there is a new video game called "House Flipper".Website:  http://www.houseflippergame.com/Now after a long day of rehabbing houses, you can come home to relax and play video games ... rehabbing houses!