s largest industry, beating out other areas such as tourism and natural resources.Eric Tang, one of the condo customers, said he's looking to downsize, but also wants to make a smart financial move.When asked if he thinks condos are a good investment, he glanced at the line and said, "I hope so.

(These are all commercial loans, made out to LLC or Corp)Drake Bank (Used to work with Jeff Carter)Home Federal Bank ( Jason Madson, awesome banker, if the loan over 0.5M will take longer)Granite Community Bank (Jake, president's son, smart guy, low origination fees)Round Bank (Andy Klassen, low origination charges)Bridgewater Bank (Tom Johnson, the fastest banker that I love, my favorite, higher than normal origination charges though, 2.5 weeks to close a deal for him, have been working with Tom since 2006)Merchant Bank (sucked in 2007 at the day of closing they backed out of the deal, didn't follow their commitment and instead of financing 380k for me at closing financed only 120k, I had to borrow money from somebody else at a very high rate, just to keep my word).The funny thing is that the banker from Merchant Bank was my instructor at the University of St Thomas grad school, teaching me a banking class next year when she screwed me over the deal :)I know Jeff Carter from Merchants, he used to work at Drake Bank and financed many of my deals, and then moved to Merchants.

Bam.The smart clients won't care if you know how to post to twitter or know the area, they want someone who's going to get them the best deal... re:  Master Negotiator.And, the same goes with listings.

Best book for kids and moneyRich Kid Smart Kidhttp://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dads-Kid-Smart-Financia...

For anyone doing any real volume of flipping (more than 1-2 per year, or even just 1 big dollar flip), a smart move is to work with your tax planner to turn the activity into a true business.  

@Shelley AltermanI'm talking here with 30 years experienceYou're in Florida and you're an agent and that's awesomeIf you care about protecting the seller I would do a lease purchase versus a lease option and get 5% down and take 3% as a feeI don't know what Florida customary earnest money deposits are, in California earnest money is 3%My advice to you: Create a lease purchase agreement, Florida State lease, and a sale and purchase agreement.To make your seller happy I would take the payment from the tenant buyer and send it directly to the bank if she's out of town, I use www.notecollection.comTo improve the chances of the buyer getting a mortgage I would mandate that they use a credit improvement service like www.upgrademycredit.comIf you leave the buyer to their own devices that won't work on their credit and debt to earnings ratioCredit is very tight right now and you need to find the right tenant buyer has a good chance of getting the mortgage.

If you keep a consistent $5k in reserves due to your estimates today, you'd be scrambling to come up with an extra $1,400 in the future.Hopefully, investors are smart enough to invest in the area where rent goes up as time goes...

You were smart to turn it around into a buy and hold.

It is not something I think I want to do the rest of my life (constant travel) so that is why I want to be smart and pay down some debt, but also save to invest in real estate.

Additionally I am sure there are huge possible liability concerns if the tenant is injured while putting up the hurricane shutters.There are many different types of Hurricane shutters from the panels you fit and tighten, the accordion, roll down for sliding glass doors, and impact windows.Depending on what story the window or door is located on and your budget will ultimately determine what hurricane mitigation device you choose.