I say spend your time makin deals and let the attorney make a couple of hundred bucks.

Put simply You get much more bang for your buck on multi families VS SF.Take a 4 family for example: you are getting 4 income streams while paying taxes, insurance on one property.

Forgot to mention after the tenants have been there awhile and become attached to the place from you being a good landlord you can raise the rents closer to market but not at the top.It will cost them so much to move and first and last month down along with security deposit.So they will weigh this versus paying another 50 or 60 bucks a month in a years time.Most tenants will opt to stay as they do not have THOUSANDS of extra cash today to move to save 50 a month.They do however usually have the ability to cover an extra 50 a month rather than move.It just depends on who your tenant base will be.If the tenants are lower income expect more moving and higher amounts of trash each week from hand me downs.They constantly get hand me downs and they only last for a short time so you get a bunch of old TV's,couches,beds,tables,etc. that need to be thrown in the trash.They are not supposed to but they will be dumped at your big trash bin or if you have small ones will be left on the road.You have to make sure you can get bulk pick up for your area.Could go on forever.For your first one you might want to buy one semi-performing before taking this on.The downside there is it will take awhile before you can get bad tenants out before performing the rehab but the upside is usually rehab costs are less than a totally vacant building.Good Luck

Often times the BIGGEST mistake investors make is using a broker or agent who does rental management on the side in between brokering sales.A quality property manager does it full time and has systems and processes in place to communicate effectively and handle issues in a professional manner.I would go to www.irem.org to see who is listed in that area.It will be hard if you are just buying one-off houses to get a quality manager.There just isn't any money in it for them.In those cases they will manage well when they need that little coin but when they get a regular sale your property will drop down on the importance list.You have to think of it this way.On a little house with 500 rent you are getting cash flow,depreciation,appreciation (hopefully),and principal pay down.The manager is getting a lousy 50 bucks a month at 10% of gross rents and that doesn't include their gas costs and other fees etc.If you buy an apartment building the manager doesn't have to drive all over creation to manage tenants with houses.They can make the same money in one place with a complex.Hopefully you will find someone.

The taxes are only 78 bucks a year so it shouldn't be killing you to hold it.

Most use fake ssn and identities they can buy for under 100 bucks in most illegal alien enclaves in every city to obtain work and housing).It all can be avoided of course simply by proper screening.

I agree that it depends on the business model.Flipping homes yes I can see using an insured team all the time.Reconditioning an apartment unit for the next tenant I will use a handyman.Paint and materials 75 and the handyman paints the whole 1,200 sq ft unit for 75 bucks.If there is a dark color on the wall I might go through an extra 45 dollar 5 gallon but still under 200 bucks total.You know what a professional painter would charge??

If you think Realtors might have buyers who want your properties, and you are willing to pay a co-op fee to them, why not just list your properties on the MLS with a flat fee service for a couple hundred bucks?

Pitch in a few bucks and reserve a conference room at hotel.

Let's say after a few months (let's say 6 months, you sell this note at a $6000 discount.)Because you collected more than 20% down that has an attractive interest rate (7.5%) for a notebuyer and a 15 year note (that is now "seasoned to", let's say 14 1/2 years to maturity) is also attractive to a notebuyer!