If you can get a routine, (hide key in same place for everyone, same type of carpet, paint, etc.) it will go a ton easier.My wife handles the utilities, and helps out where she can, and i have two sons that love to make extra money in the evenings.

on the face of it this property is going to cost you 163,500 plus closing costs and the gross rent exclusive of vacancy costs. your 1450 monthly rent annualized is 17400. which means that your gross return on cash invested is approx 10.6% you then need to deduct maintenance, property management, taxes, insurance. this will reduce your net cash on cash return to well under the gross number. this may be a great house if you were to live in it but the numbers just don't work out well as an investment. there are properties in other markets and perhaps even in your own market that sell for under 40,000 and would rent for 600 a month. this would generate a gross return of approx. 18% . in this case you could possibly end up with a 12-15% net cash on cash return.

People see their friends and family investing and they think its as simple as pulling the trigger and buying any old property and all will work out.

sorry to hear it didn't work out..if you're looking to make a little cash though, i may be interested in the properties...if you pm me the address, i'd be more than happy to compensate you if i buy it...thanks

If it doesn't work out there will always be another one.

Took it from an agent who couldn't work out the second lein payoff.

VacanciesTaxesManagementRepairs and maintenanceInsuranceUtilitiesAny other operating expensesA very rough guideline is that these expenses work out to about 50% of scheduled income over time.

And, the key thing is routine.

And yes, if I could get 1 or 2 houses refinance through conventional loan, it would work out better for me.

I don't know how easy it is to sell to another investor; I will say there are plenty of houses that need work out in LI, but from my personal perspective the sellers are still out on cloud 9 as far as their price expectations.