I put everything on it, gas, groceries, daughter's tuition & books, plane flights, etc., as I find it a very easy way to keep records & budget.

Most of the buyers, tenants moving here are 30 somethings millennials who grew up in the burbs but want to live "in towm" this area is not downtown, but were considered the burbs in the 50's, white flight in the 70's and then influx back in 90s but more so 00's.where will they want to be when theyhave kids?

But just knowing folks won't be a meal ticket, it helps but there is a lot of organization building.There are franchised networks that independent brokers may obtain to match the educational and referral systems of lager franchised brokerages.I'd suggest you look into the referral systems and agency relationships, this is an important aspect if you are in a good size community with population growth and shifts in activity.I agree that starting out you need to go with a big office, they will have the staff to teach and support you, when you advance you can move on.And, in large organization, the team approach and branding yourself is a great way to operate that can easily lead to your own brokerage.Most agencies I know are on a graduated compensation scale, reach 100% commissions from production.

A roof repair or some other big ticket item could come up and it could take 6+ weeks to get financing for a $7,000 repair.

You buy a ticket for a cruise.

He is currently serving as a Marine officer in the flight program.

(Although, we do have the third highest property tax rate in the nation)  I think the location is attractive because its right in the middle of the United States and you can reach almost any major city within 3 hours by a direct flight from DFW airport.  

Ali Boone is probably the expert on this as she is a flight instructor there in the LA basin..

Now, this is including paying a property management fee to ourselves, but even without that it would be break even.We put in a new HVAC this past winter and flooring in 2014, but otherwise have done very little and the place will need some big ticket items soon like roof, kitchen and bathroom.I should say we bought this as a primary we never ran the numbers for using it as a rental - we just wanted to get started in REI so we turned it into a rental when we bought our next property. 

Those are big ticket items like furnaces and roofs.