This may just be a deal that we want emotionally, just want to get started!

Credit may not be great but I'll be looking for charge offs, late payments, evictions etc and taking into a big picture snapshot of the risk of the tenant. 4.

I became emotionally attached to the property (another lesson learned, don't love the property, love the INVESTMENT).

They have no idea going in what will be needed and what escrow will charge.

The most important data point that you have left out is the rent you will get per month.Normally, know the rent that you can charge before you even make an offer.

I think I'm going to call the "for rents" nearby the property to see what other owners are charging and what they're doing for renter's insurance.Thanks to everyone!

Personally I prefer to always use My own agent, but the Homepath procedure seems pretty robotic, with no emotion involved other than the listing agent wanting to make a deal.I do see one advantage to dealing directly with the Listing agent however, and that is that all information received, has only gone thru one person instead of two, i.e. listing to buyers agent to buyer.This two person path, always keeps Me wondering about accuracy.

I am out in oregon if anyone else has any info and that helps.When a bank does an appraisal I assume thu charge you for it?

In my experience 50% of the work is finding the property and 50% is getting it to settlement.Special circumstances can be difficult to get to settlement and so anything that's an estate, short sale, multiple owners etc. is worth more than average.For me (and I can only speak for me ever), I charge 3% for the whole shebang.

If you're a solid PM and market yourself well, you can charge more AND pull in more business.I know several landlords, myself included, that would gladly pay another couple of % for a competent and straight forward PM vs the muck that is most of them.