But its seems like these products are imaginary programs that people have heard of but nobody has actually done one.

(Ive got a group of people to bounce ideas off of, happy to discuss.

There is no need to pay for gas and pay it off... it's mostly myths that people have come up with over time.If you have a zero score it's because you do not have any credit or the credit that you do have is less than 6 months old... more likely is less than 90 days old.Now, if your intent is to get approved for a mortgage and all you have is one prepaid credit card you are not putting yourself in the best position to secure a loan approval.I usually recommend 5 Tradlines or 5 separate accounts reporting to your credit.The best place to start, even before starting to get credit cards, is by going on the app store on your phone and searching "Build Credit" .

Start low if possible, offering yourself to the companies, and listen a lot of podcast from people that did this.- Partner is always better, but to put your name out there you have to do it yourself.

But if you are trying to teach yourself pivot tables instead of hunting for deals or managing the properties, then these are a detriment.The thing with any analyses you perform, they are ultimately done for the benefit of the people viewing them.  

Do you want these people to leave or not?

It's usually not worth it to bid because the clueless people are driving the prices up. 

Very few people move out of storage in the middle of the winter and all locations around are full. 

Since I’ve increased my deal flow to a significant degree, I find that this technique eliminates the wasted time and effort of dealing with people who aren’t highly motivated to close a transaction.  

@Patrick Irish based on what you say, the Sec 121 Exclusion and the 1031 Exchange both seem like they'd be good options for you to defer capital gains on sale of the townhouse.Sec 121 Exclusion has 3 requirements: First, Determine whether any of the automatic disqualifications apply (acquired property through 1031 exchange in last 5 years, or subject to Expat taxes)Next, meet the ownership requirement -> you owned the home for at least 24 months (2 years) out of the last 5 years leading up to the date of sale (date of the closing)Finally, meet the residence requirement -> owned the home and used it as your residence for at least 24 months (or 730 days) of the previous 5 yearsThere is no “Wiggle Room” but there is a Sec 121 “partial exclusion” for people like you that missed the residence requirement by a few months.