You have to remember 2007-2008 when all the people that bought a year before hoping for appreciation learned the most valuable lesson in investments: hope is NOT a strategy!

Should be a lesson to everyone the power of social media (good/bad) Employees have to be held responsible at all times to uphold a company image!!

Purchase price: $124,000 Cash invested: $93,000 Sale price: $268,000 Complete renovation. 3/1 to 3/2 1008 SQFT - Floors to AC, paint to roof repair, kitchen gut to adding a full bath.Key lessons learned: What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Chalk it up as a lesson learned and move on.

I keep shying away from doing tiling but this might be the right place for a new diy flooring lesson for me.

Use the lessons in the book to get your financial house in order (savings, debt, credit).

My lesson is I'm never going to sit back in process again and give people a chance to do their job, im going to be the squeaky wheel going forward.

But lesson learned. 

Got behind schedule due to a delay in financing (see my other thread) but everything is back up and running now.Some milestones - Structure was fixed, 2 piers were added Wall dividing kitchen and living room removedWood paneling removed and drywall hung Electric upgraded, new fixturesThis weekend - Work starts on the roof and sidingDrywall finishedPaint beginsQuick notes and lessons learned - Negotiate with EVERY contractor, I've agreed to pay the full bid price from 2 contractors only because their bid seemed fair at the time and was substantially lower than competitors.

A major loss or gain of jobs and population can certainly affect prices.The lesson I take from this is if you want cash flow in the future you better have it right now.OTOH, if you get appreciation, you can turn that into cash flow.