Here in the Northeast, anything built from 1980 and newer is considered practically brand new, 1950 to 1980 is considered "newer",  about 1900 - 1950 is just sort of what you expect, and anything in the 1800s is considered old. 

All theoretical from my perspective as I have just heard and read that, never practiced.

@Ronald Rohde - That's a good point but as a private practice owner and real estate agent, I'm already receiving those midnight calls and texts and around the clock questions, emails, etc.

If you can't see that, or want to try to just paint them all with a broad stroke of being lucky (and some of them were, no doubt) then I can't really help you out by sitting down and showing you examples as you are literally surrounded by them.Many ways to make returns in RE, cash flow being only one of them ... and no I'm not saying anyone should ignore that one, just consider it along with the others, over the entire lifetime of the investment ... this is sound practice in any market IMO.

To have a brokerage just for your own deals is not practical - unless you plan on doing 10 million dollars worth of volume every year!

If it's the latter, what is common practice for interest rate returns on a private loan?

at 2.3% it's practically free money. 

He also suggested talking to a CPA who practices in both NY and VA.

Yes, screen all adults based on your standard screening practices.

But there might be a time when she comes the next day so I don't want them to start a load of laundry.I guess I could request this on a case by case basis, but would rather standardize and automate as much as possible so that things run smoothly with minimal input from me.What are your best practices regarding checkout instructions?