Other than that, any contractor who agreed to retainage for residential renovations is either very inexperienced, dumb or has the intent to defraud you anyways and will agree to whatever you want up front with no intentions of ever completing your project.Doing due diligence on your vendors and hiring based on reputation instead of price are two things that will positively affect the outcome of your project and relationship more than relying on contract maneuverings that are out of place for the industry.

You're relying on the investor for capital.

Owners can easily pad the numbers to make an asset appear to perform stronger than it actually dues (ie. free rent or other incentives to lease up a property which won't appear on the pro forma)Yes the tax return will be some indication of the actual performance of the asset but it's still not something you can completely rely on.

Many turnkey providers have in-house property management, I wouldn't just rely on that (based on experience they can be fantastic or below-average).Step 4: Go visit!

@Amber Murray Do not rely on the assessed value.

Don't rely on zillow, trulia, etc. 7. 

Basically I need a team that I can rely on and will give me honest and fair investor pricing.

I wouldn't rely on them for advice about condition of the property, etc., but for something like depositing the escrow check, I bet the agent would be willing to help you in the interest of getting the deal done.  

I reached out to @Tim Norris' insurance company and waiting to hear back from them.It's frustrating - I've been doing so much reading and research leading up to this first rehab and even with everything I had done, I knew I was going to learn a lot "on the ground" so to speak, but the issues that have been popping up, mainly due to advice we've relied on from "experienced professionals", have caused so many of these headaches and fire drills and lost $$. 

What numbers should I look for, and rely on, to pull the trigger on my first rental property in nj.