On a personal note, I do not favor contractors who do not charge for estimates as a normal practice because they are not adding true value to their field and not to be trusted.

Up to this point, I'm getting my information from a plumber who verified no leaks in the current piping, and that adding gutters would probably fix things - but there was no way to know for sure until installing the gutters and seeing what happens after a heavy rain.

Instead it would be a LLC and the cash flow would be added onto yearly income.

I'm not the type of person to read books about taking action and forums ad nauseum.

Always good to scan CL rental ads for that area as well.And yes, it's a great idea to always purchase/rehab rental property with 20% equity if possible (created through some combination of motivated seller, distressed property, and/or rehab).

Some of that vehicle expense could be added back if he is not leasing the vehicle.

Google it, and the 1st link from office.mircosoft.com should be the template you need.3. for the Excel spreadsheet, think of time progressing downwards; the further down in the rows you are, the further through the months4. to map each property, give each one 5 columns {Month #, Mortgage Balance, Principal, Interest, Additional Payment} * that is the month you're on in your repayment to the bank (1-360) * balance due to the bank * that month's principal payment (this is why it's handy to have the amortiation worksheet) * interest for that month * and what additional payments you'll kick in from the other properties.5. when adding a new property to the sheet, just list the following as headers so you can add them into your equations {purchase price, down payment, P&I, cashflow when mortgaged, cashflow when paid-off}.6. to make this all work, you take an iterative process * start by charting your 1st and only property, and plot it out so it takes 360 months to pay off * add in your 2nd property, and add its cashflow to the "additional payments" on you 1st (or have your 1st property's cashflow pushed into your 2nd .. whatever you like) * keep doing this up to your 15th (or in my spreadsheet's case, my 5th property)Some insights I've gained:* the snowball effect works!

Ad could read (move in ready, just bring the cigarettes!)

Also Jon Klaus and Bryan HancockAs far as marketing, put an ad on Postlets!

She's afraid that my debt/income ration might not go through with the added HELOCI make 50k a year with no other debt (house and cars are paid off).