I've made offers on several short sales in the past but never actually bought one.I've been told to put language in the contract to the effect of "property will be delivered vacant and all of owner/occupants' or tenants belonging will be removed before closing date".What about the final walkthrough?

Basically what happened was the builder did not complete the project and built only about half+ of the town homes, and some are not paying HOA now, so effectively there is a 50% HOA deficiency.

But for now, I'm going to build a team by networking and research effectively on way's to avoid mistakes.

They will also pay for a new roof it you get hail damage for instance.

His effective tax rate may be 20%, but his marginal tax rate, and what this would be taxed at, would likely be higher.

It ignores vacant unit, clean up and marketing between tenants, eviction costs, damage, routine maintenance like the roof, hot water heaters, appliances, lawn care, snow removal, etc etc etc etc that are all real costs whether on an annual or some other recurring basis.In most places, if you can offer an investor a property with little deferred maintenance that is generating rents at 2% of purchase price, they are going to jump all over it.

But, by specifically stating a "Cash Flow" number that doesn't include these expenses, you ARE ignoring them.To not ignore them, your cash flow statement should be, for example:Cash Flow: $309 MINUS OPERATING EXPENSESAt very least, you should include a disclaimer to the effect of, "The Cash Flow and ROI numbers do not reflect the inclusion of operating expenses; actual cash flow and ROI will be lower."

.* Regular inspections to check for leaks, ceiling damage, make sure window AC units are properly mounted, etc.* Other preventative maint, such as cleaning gutters

The exception is things that are billed just once a year and that are effectively taxes.

As far as being a burn out (fire damaged) lots of rehabbers like these types of properties.