I absolutely love to go kayak fishing during the weekends.

It's a bit nuts the way this market has jumped up.  

Make sure your tenant process is evenly administered and enforced fairly.Reminds of the artsy tenant I had, besides being plain nuts she was a PITA!

Great way to start with the podcasts and forum fishing.  

@Rochelle Wilkinson, you truly do inspire me.As a newbie, I love to read stories such as these.It can be a scary thing going into this as a newbie just hoping to get decent tenants.For the most part I do have decent tenants, but those in one unit occasionally try to push my buttons, which I have done well to stand firm, but I cannot tell you how many times I almost feel like throwing in the towel because of these 2.I purchased the property and took over their lease, so they have been on property for a lot longer than I have owned it and try to push their weight around, not to mention I am a young investor so I think that sometimes makes them think they can push me around.Hanging in there though and thanks to people like you and all other BP members I can go about this not feeling so alone or like a fish out of water.Mistakes Landlords make (This may have already been mentioned, but these 2 I would say have been top on my list as I have not had issues with the screening or tenants paying):Skipping the routine inspections.I currently undertake 4 inspections during the lease term (move-in inspection; 2 in the course of the lease term and a move-out inspection).Some may deem this over-kill but for me, it ensures that I catch and address any issues sooner rather than later.Treating tenants like your buddies.You must be able to separate business from personal and know when to draw the line else tenants will walk all over you.

That's the way to do it if you have time to fish for the deals.

Never heard of such a high fee, that's nuts just for EM, contract to closing........but, you have other issues if you aren't actually lending the funds you have verified, like getting into mortgage fraud.

@Jonathan Wilks and @Steven Fiszer - thanks for replying.Basically what I'm thinking is, the more lines I have in the water the more fish I will catch. 

Honestly, (despite what the gurus may say) I don't think the lender gives any consideration to what they will net in foreclosure vs short sale as a factor in approving a short sale.There are two parts to the banks approval process: (in a nut-shell)1) Is there a financial hardship or required relocation?

We have never had a "mentor" heck in the beginning anyone we mentioned it to thought we were nuts.