The broker may charge for any/all of the following:- Desk fees (monthly fees for being part of the brokerage, having access to the office, etc)- Commission fees (brokerage may take a percentage of each commission or a fixed amount per transaction)- MLS fees (to get access to the MLS)- E&O fees (this is your broker's insurance against you screwing up a deal)- NAR fees (to be a member of NAR)- Cost of tools (like lockboxes, electronic keys, etc)- Etc...Some brokers charge high monthly fees and a significant percentage of your commission; in return you get a big brand name to associate yourself with (Re/Max, Keller Williams, etc).

This is something they can choose not to insure or to charge more for, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it.What I find frustrating is that they'd rather I rent to someone fresh out of high school who isn't going to school than the exact same person who is.

If you mean protection for general liability (tenants, visitors, slip & falls), just grab an umbrella policy (~250/yr for 1mil covering ~5 properties, about 100 for each increment mils), simplest thing you can do and beats the couple thousand in fees a professional will charge you.If you want or need to do tax sheltering strategies or optimize estate distributions etc, then definitely go for a qualified accountant or attorney.

He only charges $185 if the tub has never been resurfaced and $250 if someone has tried doing it with one of the kits from HD or Lowes.

Assuming you can get an appraisal at the price you're purchasing (not ARV - if you want to borrow against ARV, you will have to find a HML or a broker who lends from private investors), some banks don't do small loans or charge some extra points for loans less than $50K etc.If you have fewer than 4 mortgages, one bank to try is Regions Bank.

Hard money lenders, which are professional lenders at high rates for renovation loans, charge 12-15% and 2 to 5 points up front.

As for water undoubtedly every lot has to pay a connection charge whether you actually connect or not.I don't see any daylight to skate through.

Anything left here after x amount of time will be placed in storage (hopefully onsite) and the tenant charged a daily/weekly/monthly fee depending on what the law provides.

Karen- How do you send advance principal payments while avoiding the interest charge?

It's always good to have an appropriate amount of money in reserves for those unexpected expenses that WILL come up at some point.