Tenants actually understand that there are rules to follow, but they are a lot like 3 year old kids, always testing to see what they can get away with.Once they test a couple of times and are met with a tough (but polite) response, they will usually stop testing.Your only power over the tenants is your ability to evict.

Must be nice to get away from the snow to some place warm and sunny.

I always try to mentally prepare buyers about two things that they shouldn’t forget when negotiating a deal: the first is that the negotiation can happen in more than two rounds so they shouldn’t expect a successful deal from the beginning and the second is that a deal has to be a win-win situation where neither the buyer, nor the seller is the looser.

Are these realistic, or are they just round-about numbers?

If you put in a decent down payment or otherwise bought right, maybe you can get away without bring cash to the table.

I am even considering offering tickets to Branson to buyers.Lease options are something else to consider.

But it's much more regulated and the companies can't get away with a lot of the things that US companies do.From what I understand, the Obama plan doesn't socialize or nationalize health care--the private companies still exist, but they won't be able to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

It's like England circa 1985, and all the punks walking round just add to the effect lol!

Chris Funk talks about bandit signs and tickets some here: http://flipvestors.com/Wall/ChrisFunk/investor-chris-funk-houston-txMy guess would be that they are going to be a lot less strict outside of Houston proper.

Keep bidding and don't sweat the ones that get away.