I'm thankful he left when we told him to, the worst thing I think (besides not mowing the lawn for the 5 months he was there, and leaving piles of garbage) would be this: a huge industrial sized eye bolt used as the center support for the drapes, not sure if he was hanging iron curtains or what.

The best move-in special is something that adds value to the apt too (i.e. a cutting board so they don't scuff up your counters or a ceiling fan installed in a room)- find somewhere else to advertise your rents (from another BP post I learned about rentlinx.com and it's a great tool I use every day)- do a resident referral program - give them money (that is less than the lowered-rent option over course of a year) for someone they refer who signs a 12-month lease- crazy tip but always have your rent prices end in a $9 - there's a lot of studies that support this and you get the most out of your rent as possibleAt the end of the day, if your rent is way higher than everything around you then you'll simply have to lower it.

In our experience, and all we do is market teardowns and land-valued property, the best way to determine value is to work backwards.What will the lot permit in terms of new construction (per local zoning, set-backs, size (FAR) etc.)What will the lot support in terms of new construction i.e. will the market value of the new construction be inline with the existing real estate values in the neighborhoodDivide by around 2.6 That's a back of the envelope way to calculate the value of a redevelopment opportunity......

As a result, nobody has purchased it and the house has remained boarded up......the city feels that once boards are up, and the house is "winterized", they never would need to pay attention to the house again.......unfortunately, trees cant be winterized, they grow and will do bad things unless maintained. city disagreed....eventually a tree growing at a 45 degree angle on their property decided it wanted to fall because it couldn't support its own weight anymore. the tree fell in the middle of the street onto my house, destroying my cinderblock wall and chain link fence.

Fiberglass tub repairs tend to fail again over time, since the cause is usually due to poor support beneath the tub floor surface. http://www.redbeacon.com/hg/why-my-fiberglass-bath...http://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?

Thanks everyone for the support and advice.

I was also thinking of using this money to start wholesaling or other forms of dealing that would increase my capital so I can further support my goal.

Now, I am currently starting into my second year of renting as an individual, while supporting a family.  

Thanks everyone for the advice and support. 

In 2008 I had gone broke going to school out of state and getting a collection on my credit score, it suddenly became very difficult to get loans to go to school (keep in mind, I had no support from my parents and was living on my own).