You need to have enough cash on hand otherwise these annoyances will become major financial disasters.

These companies paid out during the Great Depression, pretty deversified for hands off, but yields are low.

On the other hand, I always get the full security deposit before they get the keys.

They are out there for sure, and as the owner you will have to be hands on in the management of that relationship.

Most of us hands on GC like to refer to those in which you are referring to as briefcase contractors.

In this case I wouldn't roll the money over to some other deal because you have your buyer's home in your hand.

I trade aka flip stocks. but there has been moments where I wish I had my cash in my hands :)

(i did this on one of my own properties) Also if there is enough equity might make sense with your 250k exclusion)On the other hand if you are just going to rent it out or flip it:Rule 1) Here in CA if an NOD is filed and even if its not and they (the sellers) have fallen behind in payments, you could still fall under this code, YOU MUST NOT GIVE THEM ANY MONEY , during there 5 day rescission period.

We're looking at leveraging that equity to buy more property, but want to be smart.The question is this: We've heard horror stories of banks calling notes out of the blue (second hand information for sure, but) or at least not willing to re-up (is this a word?)

Brandon Turner great point....i think it really boils down to you....when i first started out, which is not that long ago, i went to the local REIA, and LITERALLY shook as many hands as i possibly could...later that night it actually worked out perfect for me. i met one of teh biggest landlords there that night....at first it started of really slow, but i would call reguarly just sto start a conversation, just to keep me in front of his mind.