I am already a very organized person, but with us being first time landlords I want to make sure we have all our bases covered and start off strong.With that being said, can anyone give some tips or techniques that have worked for them in staying organized with our documents, to-do lists, bank account organization (security deposits, cash flow, etc.), tenant issues, etc?

I was at the Traction REIA last night as well and couldn't wait to get back to BP to question the legitimacy of the technique.

Where you are not insulting their intelligence, but you're also making it clear that you are sitting there with the intention of making a profit, and hoping that what you offer will also be something that they will be comfortable with.Most people can smell a hard-sell or a "technique" from a mile away.I've never done what you're doing, but I can be empathetic with the people you would be approaching. 

I thought for months about doing it and discussed it with my husband before actually using this technique and it was not an easy decision but I also have enough cash in the bank to cover what I've used on the promo if needed to pay it off by the expiration period - that's my exit strategy.  

Sue has some great techniques to help detect/deter renting to illegal immigrants.

You obviously want to run these numbers and hopefully negotiate on your buy price based on the net present and future values but you already knew that :)BTW, this is a very common investment technique for private equities, hedge funds and most other savvy CRE operators.

Learn the laws and screening techniques yourself and save the PM fee.

And if you pay off that loan quickly, you won't be paying the full interest rate.I had a couple of friends who also used this technique so they could also buy during the crash and it worked for them, too.  

You can also look into cross collateralization loans since you have other properties.These techniques can be structured numerous ways.  

I find many of the podcasts here very helpful, and my two BP heros are Sharad Mehta and Grant Cardone.What I struggle with now is that I learned all this great information from BP by my local market is in a bubble and I want to avoid it but I don’t know how to apply the techniques to build an out-of-state system.