You would probably need to issue a W-2 for your wife.On $100K, it likely will not provide a huge benefit to add your wife, as you would likely not max out contributions in your own name, but having her as a documented employee of the company would allow her to rollover existing savings from another retirement plan into the account.

This allows you to survive if something unexpected happens, or to invest again once you get some confidence and learn more.Trust your research, trust your calculations and ultimately trust yourself.  

Just make sure your offer contract allows you an inspection period with the option to back out if your inspection comes back with any big ticket expenses that turn it into a bad deal.  

Always do a math analysis and try to look at the prospective property before you make an offer or at least have a clause in the sales contract that will allow you some time (about 15 days) to do a detailed inspection and possibly back out of the deal without a penalty that will hurt you too much.Do not try to do everything yourself.  

Some may not allow you to refinance for more than the original purchase price, or charge you a higher rate to do a cash out refi.

@Nicole Jacobson I would Refi, if your income will allow you to do it.

Be strict on the rules and on who you allow to rent.  

- FHA allows you to put as little as 3.5% down- For financing repairs, you can just save the money and do the repairs as you have the capital, look at private loans or use credit cards, but this is more riskyGood luck with your search!

It was a foreclosure that allowed me to do some (mainly cosmetic) upgrades and sell for a profit.

The good part of this is that it's a pretty good job, so it will allow me to have a fair income/cash flow to put towards investing.Otherwise, I'm a quick learner and fairly good with finances but I'm not bringing anything to the table in terms of knowledge about construction/building/renting/etc.