@John Dirgo Deweese, the CB office in my town is a fairly slow office.

I'm in process of a slow soak of real estate investment knowledge.  

Would love to see the final product though!  

The property sold for over $150,000 in 2007, so not a war zone...now granted that was then, before the crash, but the if the market is projected to recover at some slow but predictable rate, then appreciation could happen, but won't if the intrinsic value of the homes has decreased because now they are vacant and boarded up.

I started off driving slow through neighborhoods and closely examining every property to determine if it was vacant.

I fish 10 days ago with the first freshset and we hammered them alaska style I got tendonitis in both Elbows  but left is still very slow..

The component rule is assuming your assembling a product for sale that you will then collect sales tax on.  

I'm pretty certain that the epoxy manufacturer has something to say about that and in what applications their product is suitable.The moisture is possibly vapor (since you didn't mention any flooding), so being trapped by the epoxy floor, it formed bubbles and collected as water.  

Like you as a mortgage underwriter, I have many years of experience being a professional supporting real estate investors as a CPA, but I now wanted to become a real estate investor myself.In late November of last year, like you're doing this November, I wrestled with the question of investing locally with a 4-unit purchased with FHA financing vs. investing out-of-state and got a lot of great advice.Like you, my goal is to retire within the next 10-15 years via real estate investing.As a result of some of the advice I've read through the forums (I would recommend you pay attention to guys who have been in real estate for decades like @Jay Hinrichs rather than the younger folks who are often just pushing their turnkey products) and speaking to investors at local real estate groups, I decided that given my place in life I would be wiser to place my bets on California appreciation over the next 20-30 years rather than investing in some beat-down property in Cleveland for an extra $400 or whatever in cash flow per month.Given the facts that (1) I could get into a property for a measly 3.5% down, which would free up cash to invest in other places if I so chose, (2) I was already throwing away rent every month such that I could still be cash flow negative of $650/month (what I was paying in rent) and still be better off because a portion of my monthly payment would be building my equity and the rest would be tax deductible, and (3) I'm in my 20s and have the time to take a long-term view of appreciation potential, it was a no-brainer to go the FHA 4-plex route in LA, despite the fact that it is one of the most expensive markets in the country.This isn't to say that the process was easy.  

Choosing the right kind of home with a right kind of house financing product couldn’t be any easier.Whether you are buying a property, refinancing or unlocking equity on your home loan,