Don't waste your time.  

(I can produce a list of pre-forclosure houses in the area I'm marketing to with a program I bought) but in the eventuality that someone picks up the phone and dials me, how then can I be sure that I don't waste my time and money on making sure that the lead is a actually a deal in disguise?

. - throwing it away would be wasteful and expensiveOr- keeping it would involve dumping money into it to fix it and make it look halfway decent and it's just something else a tenant can breakSo we had the bright idea to post it on craigslist for "free to whoever can take it safely".

With the former, it is quite possible that you might have saved some money that you feel went wasted; with the latter, you can help somebody avoid that same bad experience, or even help somebody share the benefit of a good experience.

There are areas where I could provide no value and would be a waste of both of our times to connect.

Shopping yourself is a waste of time unless you can not get a mortgage for some reason in which case you may be forced to deal directly with smaller local banks.

We all come and go at different times...so leaving notes at the site is a waste of time if you have to run back out and buy grout that you could have picked up on your way to the site.Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Didn't know 3.5% is still I can use.What kind of Fannie/Freddie load houses, never I have asked the agent about it.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets @Anita OrtegaBP is loaded with all the information you will need to succeed in whatever niche of real estate investing you wish to pursue and the community is filled with knowledgeable investors and professionals to learn from and connect with.Listen to the podcast for extra inspiration and investing advice and post in the forum for any questions you have.

Some folks may say writing off little stuff is a waste of time, I see it as for everything I can deduct it reduces the profit side where you have to pay taxes on it.