For those with similar or larger portfolios how are you manging your contingency funds.

Quote from @Amy Ng: I was wondering if anyone can give some advice using creative financing for purchasing my first investment property.

While waiting for their unusually l-e-n-g-t-h-y process (and their proud claim that they close in only 50 days :() to wrap up, I was wondering if I should pick up something in Cleveland, but I agree I have to do a lot of due diligence.

We have a lot of connections for you.  1) Starting with bankers, Ron Manges from first national is great to work with.

As an energy auditor, I get these calls all the time,Popular things are:-extra fridger/freezers in the garage (typically a free or old one they dont realize uses a ton of electric),-Hotwater tanks & Heating (is NG an option) If not look at airleakage and insulation-Failed wel lpumps or sump pumps that never stop running,-Non-Energy star Dehumidifiers,-electric space heaters that get left on or forgot about-A ton of Incidence light bulbsAnd the biggest one, Is typically not the KWH at all, but people switching to other non regulated providers such as ambit who have a habit of slowly creeping up to double/triple the market rate.

I see the added benefit to security and knowing before the phone rings of leaks etc, to be worth any extra set up costs as We can mange twice the number of units once a smart management system is set up.

You could study under all the fine people here.Read e v e r y t h i n g on your niche DAILY.

@Adam Ng has a good point about cash-flowing investments a little closer to home and would be the rout I would go if I lived in the area.  

@Rich Ng thanks a lot for the advice.

Thank you @Cynthia Stith & @Brie Schmidt -- I've manged to get paid via Venmo this month, so thank you for the suggestion.