Make business cards and hand the out until everyone knows what you do.

I've read that hand writing is best, red ink, yellow letters, hand stamped, and card envelopes as opposed to #10 letter.

Someone had posted on a related thread, that raising the rent is a less bitter pill to swallow when accompanied by a small token of appreciation to the tenant - a $50 gift card for example.

That must be north of $25K in credit card debt (you said revolving).

They are borrowing, maxing out credit cards, selling their soul to get a house just so they will get back 8k.

Banks have been playing their cards close to their chests, are in control, and we will maintain equilibrium.

So, I've been paying extra on credit cards.

As Charles sort of suggested, there's probably some sort of economics-based differential equations that could be used to model return vs risk vs time in various investment activities.While it probably wouldn't be useful in real life (not sure you could tune the inputs well-enough to be meaningful), you could probably play around with various inputs to get a feeling for their sensitivities to one another.If I were smarter, I'd probably be able to apply some of the utility modeling work I used to do as a poker player to real estate investing...Which actually reminds me that I've been meaning to start a really geek thread on a related subject...a bit off the topic (or maybe not), but if you've studied card counting in blackjack or were ever a geek poker player, you may be familiar with the Kelly Criterion...I've recently started thinking about whether there is a way to apply the concept to portfolio real estate investing:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_criterion

We have done everything from cash, no app fee, free big screen, grocery gift card, tickets to sporting events, etc. etc.

Don't buy anything on credit, don't apply for credit at all, pay down your credit cards and of course, do not be late.And sometimes, final approval can hinge on your total app - your down payment, your assets, etc.IMO, banks can be tough.