The problem is, the numbers aspect is just about where my knowledge ends -- if only RE investing were done on a spreadsheet and a telephone.It's pretty obvious that BP offers a very extensive resource, so I've taken the time to read all of the "newbie" articles, listen to each of the podcasts, and generally consumer about 90% of the information that you have on this site geared toward starting out, marketing, etc.

Same assumptions as above, the $80K loan payment of $480 consumes almost all of the $500 projected (back of the napkin using 50% rule) net cash flow prior to debt service.

I understand that a lot of investors don't want to deal with short sales due to the time & hassle involved. I know that banks take a long time to respond. That said, what else in the process causes a significan...

One time consuming chore is doing the payroll.

The more deals I do, the more I see how important this is :) It makes it so much more important to find awesome deals that will still be "healthy" even if things don't turn out the way you expect.

A red flag goes up if there is a complaint where money is pooled with multiple investors and the unsophisticated public is possibly being taken advantage of, they will take notice.Yeah I feel that for the most part the SEC stuff, and most consumer protection legislation, is more to allow attorneys to churn big fees since you basically have to do it in those situations.I guess what you are saying is what I was getting at where offering a single person a lien on a property in exchange for loan would not really be an SEC red flag if nobody complained about it.

These costs can eat any healthy return you think you may have.

And thank you also for the healthy dose of perspective!

A seller/agent should require a healthy EM.

We have seen all sort of of disasters of felons working as Sales Reps. http://www.wfaa.com/news/consumer/Company-sends-out-felon-as-traveling-salesman-162019955.html