I've made the mistake of holding off only to have 2-3 weeks of bad weather.

Why, because the originators are very worried that if they make a tiny mistake in the underwriting (and multi property loans are very complicated), and the loan defaults down the road, that the investor will make them buy the loan back.

If done right, they are great... but make a small mistake and it's worth less than the paper it's printed on.

I agree that it is very important as it can save you time and costly mistakes, but just out of curiousity, have any of you started out WITHOUT having a mentor and just learning as you go?

Honestly that's one of the biggest mistakes I see people make when they're talking about strategy, they think if they don't claim depreciation they won't have to pay it back when they sell. 

This was a big mistake for them and got them nowhere.

It's the business/investor that can manage themselves through the mistakes or bad times that will survive and prosper.

If square footage is important measure "  IE MLS is not responsible for mistakes and the buyer has a duty to satisfy themselves.. like you guys said what happens when you get more sq ft.Many investor I know have made some nice paydays when the MLS said 1200 but it was really 1800. this is just the OP whining and thinking he can solve something in court.. this is a joke no one is going to spend the money to go to court over this.. it further really cracks me up when people on BP actually think they can get to court.. the cost to do so is Very Very high if there is any opposition at all.. and I would say 99.9% of folks on this site have NEVER actually had a case go to trial.. its pretty rare in the civil setting .. mediation is the preffered method

I think many people make the mistake of chasing the rate where the guy who's offering 4% may be an REI expert but people decide they would rather risk it with someone else to get 3.875%.

BIG mistake.