Similar to opening a lawn cutting company etc.

Everything else is either 1) a corollary of a core principle or 2) noise and artificial barriers to entry.While I certainly appreciate being scrappy and hustling and trying to get into deals with nothing, it's just not something I'm interested in doing.

If you spot peeling old paint and a lawn that looks taken care of, that usually means that the inside is in good shape.

.- Rent control in many cities is another rule keeping rents artificially low.

Risky but I am ok with it.My one question is when it comes to doing the cash out refinance at about 6 months, I will have a lot of my credit cards and my debt to income ratio will be artificially skewed because of the rehab costs on the cards (but no different than if I had a different lending source....hard money, commercial loan).

They covered my stairs to my lawn with the gravel and dirt from their work.

If you're looking for passive income though, then this doesn't seem like a deal at all because there won't be much if any income after expenses and capex, let alone water, sewer, trash pickup, lawn care.

Less cash flow and better chance for appreciation.If you fall somewhere in the middle like I, along with most people do, look for properties in decent areas, with decent cashflow(at least $200 a door AFTER accounting for vacancy, capex, repairs, PM, PITI, lawn/snow etc.)

Howdy @Jeff TropeanoOther expenses not included are things like lawn care/snow removal and pest control.  

This also gives you a chance to see what kind of tenants they are and if they keep the place neat and if they are doing anything wrong such as smoking, parking on the lawn, etc.