I do plan on going there but would like to do as much from NYC as possible.

I am fimiliar with Microsoft Excel on different financial things so I am planning on going with that but maybe there is other software's that fellow investors are using that are much more efficient.

Our investment plan involves buying distressed properties and making them into nice rentals.We did one rehab last year, finished one last week, have one ongoing, and close on one house that actually needs very little work beyond new appliances today.

For those of you who are trying to build your real estate business while holding a full-time job, what would you say are the biggest challenges that you have to deal with on and ongoing basis?

This is a long-term buy-and-hole rental (10+ years).Was planning on going laminate.

Hold if you want the ongoing income stream.  

The construction is ongoing and I believe it must be people doing it that have day jobs and can only dedicate a couple hours at a time at the work in our house.

So, long story short, instead of spending so much time trying to go after existing listings, I should just focus on going after homeowners, if I would have, I would have probably done several short sale deals already.

Network with others, find out what they're doing, what's working, whats not etc...I haven't been to our local REIA in some time but I plan on going back to take advantage of the pro's while dealing with the few con's that come with it.

Joel,We are using conventional financing, the owner was asking for way too much and the bank is very attractive.We have experienced the sugar coating…we were not expecting much from this place after we saw the condition and the quality of repairs and maintenance and believed about 5% of what the owner told us, especially after meeting the manager at one of the inspections and heard a completely different story.I think that I will take you advice on pushing the situation…also I like the suggestion on going to the housing court to see how it goes down in there.Thanks all…