Are you an old hand at REI?

If you can be successful at even a handful of flips per year, you would be in a position to potentially add that extra property per year to your portfolio.I think this is a great strategy to start out with.

Any suggestions and help would be appreciated.Back in the glory days of the nineties real estate agents would hand out keys for VA and HUD properties as they were all keyed alike...today (at least in Raleigh) you can't even get an agent to show you a house unless you sign a buyer rep agreement and are pre-qualified and blood-typed...

On the other hand, whoever built my house didn't think it was necessary to install flashing between the deck and the wood siding. 50 bucks worth of flashing would've prevented a lot of rot.

I know I can't wait to get my hands dirty on my next project!

Go to the public library, read everything you can get your hands on, save some money and buy a house.

I think you've always got to keep SOME liquidity on hand, and the amount you should keep on hand is usually a factor of the age of the property, it's cash flow, and how expensive (or inexpensive) the thing is to own in the first place.When I start getting excess liquidity, that's usually my sign that it's time to take a chunk of that cash and put it into another income producing property.

Or rather at what point do I need to have cash in my hand or a loan set up on deck?

Even the packet handed to potential investors is over an inch thick.

Even the seemingly easiest deals -- one loan, "pre-approved price", BPO in hand, etc -- can take months.So, yes, you can expect answers to the factual questions, but don't expect that to necessarily tell you how long you can expect the transaction to take.