I just spent $2,000 for 4 bar height chairs for our beach house for the outside deck areas and am getting ready to spend $2,500 for a poly wood dining table with 6 chairs.

ONe thing to consider is flip the tables.. become the bank.. let those that have the stomach and desire to landlord do that work.. you just collect checks each month your still invested in the exact same asset but with none of the liablities and day to day interface with PM and tenant.. 

You can follow the generalist model and get to away with things (you need to bring a lot of other different things to the table).

In many of the podcast episodes they talk about the value of finding a mentor but you need to bring value to the table don't just pick a random person and say surprise you're my mentor.

I want to buy a cabin in the smoky mountains and I only have 10k to invest.

Renters call me, I give them the address and leave the door unlocked with keys on the kitchen table. 

My short term goal is to get my first property under my belt to gain the experience and confidence to one day get my vacation rental in the mountains.

Well water can change composition depending on the level of the water table. 

@Ryan McGlasson, if you wanted to put a deal together, you would have to bring something to the table.

Use a good quality, fine toothed saw blade.We use a portable table saw, masking tape on the formica, and cut it from the formica side, right down the middle of the masking tape.It seems to me that my saw blade (just the blade) was over $100, but it does a great job and it can be resharpened, so should last just about forever.Good tools are worth the money.My table saw has a cutting guide, but you can get a cutting guide to go on a skil saw, so with a good blade, you should be able to make an acceptible cut with a skil saw.There are free standing supports with rollers in the top that you can use to support the ends of the countertop if you have to work alone.