Going around with a realtor, looking on the web....is a major waste of time.

It is great that your folks are going to help finance you and your endeavors, and I hope you become a major success!

The vast majority of lease-option buyers never buy the property.2.

By playing this game, I am taking the risk while I am rehabbing the new property, that no major expenses will come up with the old property that will put me in the red for that month.If you are talking about flipping a property, then sure you will live off part of that income while using the profit for another purchase.

The house has major structural issue (sadly) and will require major capital to fix. on a side note. the property is involved in some sort of fraud lawsuit!

Or they need a new garbage disposal when they have jammed it with a rock.The majority of my tenant repair calls, I get there and there is nothing to repair: like the tenant who called to say the fridge blew up and wouldn't work.

I have a local map book (Thomas Brothers/Rand McNally have ones for most major metro areas that often print subdivision names on the map) and I mark it up with “good, bad, ok†and other notations.

I find the vast majority of my deals through personal contacts - i.e. people calling me.

So, you have an investment that's sucking money out of your pocket each money, that will take huge bites as soon as you have some major expense or a lengthy vacancy, and that's declining in value.

Both can be successul with different tactics.