I have a few short-term goals I need to work on:Learn my market better.

If you keep on investing everything you make, you will short on cash to pay estimated tax each quarter. 

The landlord first threatened to deduct money from our deposit if the short bushes in the flowerbed died, so I started watering the flowerbed by manually turning on the irrigation system and turning it off ten or twenty minutes later.

I hope to contribute as much to the BP Community as it has to me in such a short amount of time.

And then get some short term financing for the repairs—- if you have an LOC,great!

@Mark Benevento the short answer to your question above: 5% won't cut it.

Know what you expect your investments to deliver in terms of finances, while remaining mindful of the long-term and short-term advantages of real estate investing.While creating your investing strategy, think about the purchase price range, as well as the cash investment needed for each property.

I try not to rent to those types -- the dude is practically guaranteed to split one fine night with a life-is-short-I'm-sorry note.

Long story short we decided instead of finding another Manager long distance and new renters we would rather go ahead and sell the house.

Also, many homes in foreclosure are short sales and you can't assign contracts on short sales.