If I buy a house in January, spend 6 months rehabbing it, and then rent it out in July, do the holding costs during the first 6 months (prorated property tax, mortgage interest, insurance, utilities, etc) get deducted from rental income, or do they get added to the basis of the property?

There is always a last-minute scramble, but you will make it happen if you really want it.

Last week, I got my first 2 with total spending limit between them of $15,000.

I'm not fond of your Houston purchase because you didn't gain much value after spending over $25k.

A lot of people spend more than that on a car. 

I will need to spend some time to really decipher your pillars. 

@Ben Leybovich and I will spend dozens of hours underwriting a property before determining our price range. 

I'm new to this and while I can learn I do not have the time to spend on the short term, so I don't want  to put all my assets in that investment account with something I'm not familiar. 

While you need to be responsible and not spend money you don’t have, sometimes a nice dinner or a new piece of equipment you have been wanting is all you need to give yourself a boost.

In order to pull all of your money out during refi, you can't spend more than 75% of ARV: purchase, reno, holding costs, etc.