Just for some simple points like; you have multiple units under one roof, when you need to make appearances you have say 3,4,5,6 places all at the same place.

You wonder how effective these are if multiple investors have the same web sites in the same area.

You could probably pick some of them up at some good prices.I just read about a guy in my state that is getting hammered with tax evasion, trying to move the properties around between multiple entities to keep the IRS and the banks from getting at them.

An investor who's dealing with multiple agents and hunting deals on their own may want a limitation that the buyer's agent will only get paid for deals they've presented, for example.The only place you're going to get a break is on a FSBO.

Another question (along the lines of this topic) for experienced property owners...I used the 50% rule for SFH, and I do a much more detailed analysis for any buildings over 5 units, but I'm not really sure how to evaluate expenses for 2-4 unit properties (duplexes, triplexes, quad-plexes).I imagine there are some economies of scale for multiple units in a single building, but certainly not to the degree of an apartment building.Do you guys use the 50% rule for 2-4 units?

Get multiple contractors to come out and let them know that you are having a couple of recommended contractors getting estimates for you.Remember the lowest bid isn't always the best.Many times after you have the written estimates in hand you can go back to the one you liked the best and ask them if they will match the other guys price.You also want to make sure they have insurance and are licensed.

I've spoken to multiple brokers who've told me my deal is a home run, only to have them use a lot of time and strike out.

Has anyone (or anyone you know) experienced success doing what the gurus suggest and sending multiple letters of intent?

A few suggestions which I think would enhance biggerpockets (some taken from vBulletin), in no particular order:* multi-quote - the ability to select multiple posts for quoting* kudos - ability to register approval of a post, or agreement with a point, and then count these and somehow rate posters - just provides more incentive to share and try to be constructive and helpful * ability to view the forum in wide screen format (maybe you can but I can't see how - the forum text only takes up about 30% of the width of my screen)* more/better emoticons - happy to suggest some if you like ;)* also I'd like emoticons inserted where the cursor is, rather than always at the end of the text (ie if you edit and want to insert an emoticon in an earlier para, you seem to be only able to do it by cutting and pasting the emoticon, which is always inserted at the very end of the whole post)* I imagine this is related to the fact that whenever you format some text, your cursor is moved to the very end of the post; I'd rather the cursor be left where it was just prior to applying formatting (eg bold)* ability to report/hide abusive posts, to try and stop conversations degenerating into slanging matches :roll: Love the forum - thanks, Josh.

My last purchase was 2000 miles away but it took me 30 minutes to engage with a local realtor and get enough info to make me comfortable with the purchase.Good luck and keep up the with the learning Mouschi!