Houston may require a permit for this, but AFAIK all repair guys are licensed by the state and have to pay into a "risk" pool to cover boo-boos if they go out of business.

Obviuosly the higher the better but I didn't know if a certain amount of positive cash flow should be met to cover repairs, etc.

I wish I had a cape covered goverment official [paste picture here] wearing their underwear on the outside of their pants (not too different from many in the house of representatives) coming out to announce the 300b dollar bailOUT.

That assumes that $48 will cover the utilities, which unless that's just water, I seriously doubt.

In this case, you will need to CAREFULLY structure the lease-option contract and be sure that you cover yourself.Good Luck,Mike

We cover the entire gambit of programs including short sale and filing BK's.

I was just looking at a property for 36k and was approved and had an approval letter in 2 hours.Many small local banks will give you loans on lower value properties if you can show that you personally can cover the mortgage and if the property cash flows that makes it a lot easier as well.Just try a small local bank...

The previous agent we used told us to insure it with a vacant policy but when I read the policy it did not seem like we would be covered.

They are going to want to see enough income to cover all of your debts, car loans, credit cardfs, student loans, etc.By the way, don't miss any payments on your student loans.

I don't think there's enough equity here to do much since I can't do a cash deal, and the rents won't cover the mortgage payments.