There is a couple hundred a month right there.

If materials are several hundred to a few thousand, we might make a payment toward materials to a contractor we already know.

Which isn't really that much.I guess I need to really sit down with the numbers, but in the end, I'm guessing that turning this residence into a rental may save me a few hundred a month after taking into account both tax on the rental income, and the deductions that will come along with the investment property.

They may also want to lower the upper cabinets in the kitchen to make the more reachable.

We will be installing new kitchen cabinets and new appliances as well.

It's great to say I will only hire fully insured contractors for every job, and for my electrician, plumber, roofer, etc etc, I do know they are insured,,but to have manual labor, there are times I can't promise they are,,I'm not a fortune 500 company with a legal department to check over everyone's insurance policy,, Even if they have insurance, they can still sue you saying something wasn't right on the property that caused them to be injured,,, In my 'day job' my boss is worth a few hundred million, so guess what, we have every contract, insurance, etc run through our attorneys,,,a recent $500k purchase (not real estate), I spent nearly $175k on lawyers,,,,think about that 30% of the purchase price spent on legal..

While that will hike up the cost a bit, it's better to be safe than sorry, and anyone who has insurance is going to be at least a bit more serious and conscientious than those who don't- Bring the paint crew in before you do flooring or cabinets -- if they don't need to cover the floors or cabinets, they won't have to charge as much- Ask for a discount if the painters don't have to remove and replace the doors.

You must have an office with lockable file cabinet and a sign.

It may not be marketable requiring a buyer to drop over a hundred thousand down, it's just not a good use of cash.

I had to pay a "penalty" to my lender (a few hundred bucks) b/c my loan was under $50K, but this did not bother me b/c the property and deal was so good, and the 10% down was great.