Actually, Armando went broke a couple of years back when a relatively small market price decline exposed his poor operating methods and highly leveraged nature of his business.

They just naturally assume you have done many when you say "I am looking for my next project.

Now it's second nature you just do it.

Kama Ward A few things:Favorable business climate^^ means jobs leadershipNo state income taxCentral location Cheap (abundant) landHigh value natural resourcesEntrepreneurial cultureConservative home lending standards helped keep things in check through the bubble.

But, that's where a lot of my perspective comes from.That said, most of the "bonuses" we offer are based around long-term motivation as opposed to tactical rewards; in other words, keeping the crew happy in general as opposed to rewarding them for a specific task or job.If you can do enough properties to keep your contractors fairly busy throughout the year, a lot of this motivation will come naturally -- good contractors who know that performing well will generate a lot of extra work will tend to do the right thing because doing so will mean lots more work in the future.But, there are plenty of other things we do to ensure that our contractors would rather spend time working for us (and doing a great job for us) than working for someone else or not doing a great job for us:- In terms of financial bonuses, we like to mix it up and keep our contractors hoping -- as opposed to expecting -- incentives.

My biggest problem is my trusting nature.

The reason they give 17 days is that it is sufficient enough time albeit barely and because people tend to by nature procrastinate and could and would hold up a closing for months.

It's relatively straight forward... dig a big hole, cut a bigger hole in the cement wall... throw in a larger window... put in one of those metal guard thingies... backfill dirt.IMO, just about anyone who wants "space" in their basement should look to do it just for the amount of extra natural light they bring in at a very reasonable cost.

You can bet I'll be gleaning a ton of knowledge from many of you and it's in my nature to want to balance that equation out.So in keeping with the "not selling anything" mantra, here's what I've come up with.

In my area the Electricity and Natural Gas are responsibility of tenant, but WATER tax stays with property owner.We set new Landlords up with Owner Revert on utilities, to avoid reconnects and we request Landlord Copies of Water Bills.