And seeing that you're a programmer you might like the open source nature of it.

house nearby it is rented to the sister (naturally husband no job ) never had a problem with them so far.

If you are already a business man by nature, sell you self well and know how to do business (buy low sell high), then you may not need it.For me the earlier you start the better.

$1.40 per gallon equivalent for compressed natural gas here in OKC.

What next, free natural gas?

Then there's stain, but won't they taint the natural color of the wood and make it look like something else?

In the first case, you probably want either a trusted employee who has successfully done these types of deals or a trusted partner who has some skin in the game.In the second case, a good GC is probably what you're looking for, or perhaps a good project manager that you can pay as a contractor.

Experience and/or skin in the game3.

In Georgia it is much more expensive and time consuming to foreclose instead of evict so they need to have some serious skin in the game (at least 10%) before I will give them owner financing.FYI I just had a tenant buyer walk away from her 5k option fee.

This means that I will be doing showings to prospective tenants, inspections, evictions and things of that nature.