@David Faulkner  guilty as charged... bought 3.5 acres in Rohnert park in 1995.. it was unbuildable but it was right behind a HOme depot and had a freeway interchange within 500 yards.. just brought into the city limits and zone mixed use resi.and the Graton casino is right across the street largest Casino in N CA.. they paid for the improvments of the road brought sewer water etc.looks like we will be developing this piece in 17 to 18' ..

The second property which from first impressions seemed like a total rehab with holes in the wall, uneven bricks and a illegal dump site in the back yard Aaron and Sean educated the group by explaining that most of the damage was cosmetic and most damage can be factored into closing cost, and using our comp sheets help put the numbers into perspective  and proved to be educational.

Most original doors you can find matching ones at salvage places or Craigslist.

Figure out what a property would cost per month (spread out furnishing costs over one year, and don't forget cleaning, landscaping if there's a yard, internet, etc.).

Finish the basement, add a master suite, fix up the yard, update the interiors, etc..   

The back yard backs up to Briley Pkwy.

ARVs are in the 375k-500k range (Keep in mind, these are craigslist posts, so I'm taking them with a grain of salt until I do my DD).Again, to me, that sounds like a deal (using 130k in equity to ideally create 200k+ in equity, while making the future Wifey happy and getting out of a tiny condo and into a bigger home with a yard :D), but I'm a newb and could be looking at the numbers all wrong (am i?).

It is working out pretty well all in all, since I am almost always on line even when I am on a 5 week bike trip across Europe, except on a long flight to Asia or Africa or on safari with no internet.No one will manage the way you want them to- just silly things like putting 2 little bottles of conditioner in the toiletry basket instead of one shampoo and one conditioner, or checking to see if some places in the yard were cleaned that might not be on the normal checklist but because of recent weather you think there might be a problem.

Putty and paint, less than $500.00 with yard work.Now, I totally agree that if you're flipping, you need to figure in holding costs, which you omitted and costs of disposal and you will need to buy lower, however, also understand that what you plan to do is irrelevant to the property's market value.

For those of you that accept dogs, how do you deal with dog waste in the yard?