To ensure BEST appreciation, look for best neighborhood, best schools, lowest crime, lowest DOM (days on the market), highest average comps for same sq ft house, highest market rents.I use http://www.neighborhoodscout.com for that.To have the house appraise at the highest value, you need to look at Toyota Camry Wagons - Honda Oddeseys/Civic wagons, NOT Yugos - Pintos.

Basically a partnership arrangement with a UCC filing on the account.Work on him and ensure him on the deal, let him work on her.

Let's assume you do your diligence and the current use of the property is legal (no zoning violations) and there are no special/social use covenants {a social/general rooming house is an entirely different beast than one next to campus which focuses on students}, before you go forward, ensure you have multiple exit options.

DFW is still on my list but it's pretty challenging to get good deals there due to institutional players overpaying for properties.

Also, it'd ensure that no one else is living in your units and no pets.

I would start by filing a police report and getting in touch with a lawyer.Then, I would make it my mission to ensure the contractor never finds work again.Rick

If you have separate subs that are contracted through you (not the GC), they won't be covered under the GC's insurance.See Steve's great explanation of workers comp above...if you'll ever have contracts directly with subs, you should ensure that either they have their own workers comp or you have workers comp to cover them.

I hear from those attending that this has driven average returns on tax liens to 6-9%, but that's for financial institutions with scale that can hire cheap labor to visit every site (which is a must to ensure the property is in good shape), go to the local assessor's office and look up all the liens, hold onto the lien for several years, administer the ongoing payments and any foreclosure proceedings, and run pretty sophisticated spreadsheets that estimate whether you're going to get 6% or 8% return, based on economic forecasts, etc.

@Asad JamalI would get a local attorney to review it and ensure it has all the required language for NC.

What are some of key questions to ask to ensure this person is effecient and cares about my business?