Yearly PITI: roughly $28,000 Yearly association fee: $2500 Cleaning fees (paid by renters) Yearly average utilities (cable, phone, heat, electric): $3240 Yearly advertising costs (vrbo/homeaway.com etc): $600 Total costs: $34400 The house rents solid 3 months in the summer and 3 months in the winter.

A rule of thumb is that expenses, over time, will average 40-50% of the rent.

I am concerned that the new regulator that Bush appointed is going to overreact to the market and make it too difficult for the average person to acquire a mortgage.

On average how much of a discount can you get from a short sale?

I checked the population in some of the well-known cities and it appears to be less than the national average in population growth.

I checked out Zillow and Trulia for the average price in that area and it appears to be $350,000 +/- $10,000.

On average, my final cost after acquisition and rehab is just under 20K per property (all appraise at 60 to 70K).

The owner has financing of:1st mortgage - $142K or $1339 per month2nd mortgage - 14K or $146 per monthTotal monthly payment of $1485.The comps in the area average 140-150K.He is four months back on his mortgage, but has not been sent to foreclosure yet.

If you can invest, say $5000, and change it from a beater with a bad foundation to a decent house with fresh paint, you'll get back way more than the $5K.Get some agents to look at it and give me a price they would list at that would product a contract in 30 days.

I've been spackling for about 20 years now (yes, started at about 12) and just started using a new product by DAP called Fast 'N Final.