i'm primarily looking for rehabs, and in the future i'd like to add the occasional good rental to my portfolio.

You can occasionally come across no down and deferred payment deals.

We'll occasionally have sales on products.

I plan to do a mix of buy and hold and an occasional flip just for fun, but if I'm going to go down this road I want to know that with hard work the odds are in my favor of succeeding.Tom

We will occasionally use a customized contract, but it's one that is specific to the offer, and only for lease option purposes.For straight purchase offers, we just use the standard PA our agent fills out with our standard instructions:*     Offer Price*     EMD*     Inspection Period*     Days to Close PeriodThe only "risk Control" you should need to get out of the contract is the inspection period.  7 - 10 days.  

I still occasionally do good deals, but want to avoid them, as Jim Collins says, "good is the enemy of great."

So the maintenance number really will just be paint/carpet every couple years, the occasional appliance/plumbing/other random repair, and any unexpected special assessments that may come up.

We have occasionally compensated a tenant for "loss of use" when they were overly inconvenienced.

With our business, we occasionally add a 3rd bedroom or combine 2 bedrooms in a 4 or 5 bedroom house into a master bedroom.

One does occasionally need to temper their desire for cash flow against their will to live.Frankly I don't think a brand new renovated rental (a so-called "A") is going to produce a better return on your investment than a "C," provided they are in the same class of neighborhood - you will just spend more to acquire and maintain them.