Thanks Jon,But let me go into more detail before I get to far. the property "was" worth about $115k. the 30% loan has a balance of $20'ish but will sell it to me for $4k cash. right now... but I can't get a reply from the bank that owns the "rest of the house" I know it's "upsidedown" right now. it should sell for about $80k but it's on an acre close to the airport in Houston and I can get a good rent price from it....I contract to an Oil Co. international and a 2 bedroom close to the air port will have a lot of potential for me.

Lease the house for 2-3 years at which point the buyer could refi for the remaining balance on the $135k. 3-year balloon line of credit on the house for around $20k from an outside investor at a IR of 12-16% and use that cash + the $10k from the buyer to put the down payment towards the traditional investor mortgage.

For instance, windows on the first floor -- I've heard that intalling replacement windows on FIRST floor is biggest bang for buck due to hot air rising ... also, the basement in my 7 unit is an old carriage house and is 10-11 feet high!

We rented a large cabana with 4 large beds upstairs and a bathroom (with hot water shower, which you didn't see much in those days) and air conditioning (again, something rare) with wireless internet (we had it wired) and added an LG air conditioning system downstairs with cable tv and was on the bus route to town (or you could walk, which we did quite often), but because the locals felt we were trespassing on their work, we were forced to live out our money and returned home broke.

It does have a brand new roof, but from what I understand It needs quite a bit of work done to be rent ready:- Needs Central Air installed.

windows, air leaks, insulation, ec. would be better to seal up.i can get new furnaces from 400-500 and i install them..

Nick... thanx for sharing and this sounds like a great topic for future discussions over the air waves.

When i was 17yrs old in January 2005, I joined the Air Force, did 4 years and just got out in Jan 2009.

I guess people will ask, well what if REI doesn't work for you and I'll say 1st YES IT WILL and 2nd I'm a Cardiac Technician by trade thanks to 4 yrs in the Air Force and i make a pretty decent amount there.

Do Air America, Moveon.org and network news in general suck that bad that you must use Comedy Central?