I've always had an interest in real estate -- as a kid I spent a lot of time playing with various home design programs, learning how to use AutoCAD from my dad and watching HGTV (LOL yes I was kind of a dork!).

I am a single parent of two young children, mixed Filipino, Japanese and Spanish, 7th child of 7 siblings that grew up in Northern California, with degrees in Fashion Design and Psychology, 17 years of experience in Intellectual Property law, and owner of a California corporation.

We did the design, carpentry, painting, kitchen/bathroom/office install and every other little thing involved. 

If you don't want this to happen, you could instead designate the Mortgage Interest account type as a "non-operating expense". 

Honestly, this site and the podcasts are excellent ways to get a variety of opinions on a given topic to help you narrow your focus and start designing your business model.I am still on the hunt for my first flip <fingers crossed I am looking at a property tomorrow> but NOVA is challenge as I learned our foreclosure rates are really low.  

My husband is extremely handy, and I have design sense.

Very different home designs here then in ny so what i would normally do in a rehab there wouldnt apply here in some cases.

It's designed for big banks and online institutions to make quick credit decisions for the average consumer who has 3 credit cards, a student loan, a house payment, and a car loan.  

That's layout, design, permitting, dealing with the borough/city, etc. 

We've done deals that were financed 100%, however; we have 30 years experience, and are licensed in both real estate and construction, and do all the preliminary design, etc. on our projects, and actually do some of the construction as well as marketing.