@Jonathan Rosado, as for "the property will go under one of our names not both", conventional wisdom suggests that it should be in the name of the person who earns the most, for tax deductibility reasons.

He asked for 4% commission but charged us over 6% for no reason among other things. 

We have indentified management as a huge opportunity and a reason for its lower than market-rate valuation.

In fact, one of the main reasons I STARTED investing in real estate was control.

We talked about training tenants and keeping them accountable for small repairs on things they break (generally under $150 and things that can reasonably be shown they caused to break, but generally not plumbing and electrical).

@Will Kirkendoll Always a fan of separation when dealing with tenants for a number of reasons...but it's relative.

Reason is you will get to depreciate the property on the steped up basis. 

The reason to be selective with realtors for flips is they can give you a good idea of what the after renovation value will be.

I was hoping you'd chime in.The additional reason 3) costs so much is because (according to the engineer), in order for it to be code compliant I will need to add an additional bracing wall underneath the house parallel the short side.

I found this to be helpful in the beginning, hopefully you will aswell ...acceleration clauseA clause in your mortgage which allows the lender to demand payment of the outstanding loan balance for various reasons.