You should speak to your partner and tell him that if he wants to do extra for the tenant then it comes from his money, not yours and whomever else you’re partnered with.

There might be a 10% chance an escrow company could hold the money for 1 or 2 big repairs until a licensed and bonded company submitted bills for the repairs to be reimbursed and the extra returned to the seller.

The extra cash infusion would def help lower my own capital expenses for purchase and renovating.

#2 What I see is about 30% fee, that's the tough part...if you hit $3000/month and loose 30% of that, you're back down to LTR rate...plus you probably have extra expenses, like furnishings, utilities, consumables, lawn care, hot tub.   

But I am leaning towards properties that break even and have high appreciation so that i don't have extra income when I am in a high tax bracket here in California.I am looking for suggestions on what is the best strategy.1. get a property locally in A class neighborhood costing around $600,000 to 800,000 and hold long term for appreciation (no cashflow)2. work with a turnkey provider and let them handle the portfolio3. work with a real estate agent, property manager and invest out of state and look for cash-flow and appreciation (more work)

Pay extra for a general contractor.

with email marketing for example, a good open rate is 20%. with text, the average open rate is 90% or higher. everyone reads every text they get. that extra 10% is due to some phone carriers having a “spam text” folder. i personally have never seen this, but i do see many of my texts not being delivered due to the phone carriers’ spam folders. anywho, people rarely answer the phone, and almost always listen to voicemails. so i feel texts & voicemail drops would probably have about the same efficacy. texts might beat VM drops because they could be perceived to be more authentic (depending on how they’re written), meaning more responses. you’d also have to consider your demographic. will you know that the #s on the list are cell phones vs landlines?

Much like I have the same basic certifications or education my HVAC, plumber, electrician, mechanic, pool guy and home inspector have.90 hours and a couple thousand could open more opportunities than buying the Real Estate for dummies book on Amazon, why get all the information without putting the extra effort in and being licensed as well?

If I offer someone Fannie AND "alternative" with horrible rates/fees, the number of people who think I'm trying to scam them (and, thus, take their business elsewhere entirely) is actually higher than the extra business I pick up by offering that alternative.

Have a little extra cash besides the 20% down payment on an investment property because closing costs can often be higher then expected, especially if you are willing to pay for a lower interest rate on your mortgage.