I'll be taking a travel assignment first (13-weeks), so that we can feel out the area and determine if that is where God would have us to live.

I have never borrowed from a HML, although I will later on this year.I, too, would love to borrow as much as possible, BUT I try to put myself in the HML's shoes...If I am a HML and someone with very limited or no flipping experience asks for 100% funding, I would not do it even if it were a smoking hot deal.

If I would see any chance to invest within driving distance I would stick to that.How much would I pay myself for travel for a showing or to meet a contractor?

@Larswin Mendoza, you should check local laws because some municipalities have specific limitations such as rent control or prohibitions against smoking on the property.  

Hi all,New Real Estate investor here in the process of starting out.I know that once I own a property any operating expenses, travel etc. are tax deductible but does anyone have any insight into collecting receipts for business meetings and recording mileage relating to starting up investing and buying a first property?

It's never unwise to keep educating... we all need reminders even about "common sense" items... the same is true of changing batteries in smoke detectors, etc.

What I mean is, I go to the tiebreakers listed on my 'general qualifications sheet' and briefly peruse all the apps I received at the same time, looking for move-in timeframe, (they may not want to move for 2 months), term they want, #of people (are they pressing occupancy limits), if they smoke, if they have pets, does their income pencil out, special requests (did they ask to paint or do things to the place?).  

And by party, I mean nodded out on opiates, or smoking crack and turning tricks. 

So you need to factor travel into your acquisition model if you are buying outside NJ.Good luck, I will be acquiring another 100 to 400 unit deal in 2015 using the same approach I shared above.

I have another three more in the pipeline from the MLS at 2.1%, 2.28% and 2.35% respectively - and I don't invest in areas I'm afraid to travel in at night (though my tolerance may be higher than most).