My improvements are usually for eye appeal first and function second.

Let me downplay that to glazed over eyes power hungry.

I listened to Podcast 12 again tonight (Sharon's), and her metrics regarding repeated touches are eye-opening.How many months have you budgeted for?

I'm trying to follow a loose criteria of: 1 only buying things that I would be personally willing to live in, 2. in areas that I'd be willing to live in, 3. dont need too much money to have  a nice refresh so they look more up to date 4. are close to my home so I can keep an eye on them, and maintain them as needed. 5.

One tip that I picked up here is while you are starting out and saving money for your investments, start driving / visiting areas you would like to invest in so you get a feel for prices, rents , house conditions etc, and visit and look at lots of homes and open houses so your eye get used to looking at repairs / upgrades that are normal in a particular market.

Crazy how fast 3 people jumped on board BP and their first (and only in one case) post was to pimp out this company...good eye Wendell!!!

Those pieces of literature opened my eyes and showed me that there is a better way of living that doesn't involve working 40 hours a week building someone else dream for them, so i decided to dig deeper into learning about  real estate and watched tons of you-tube tutorials when I came across wholesaling.

Any where you go ... always, always, always keep your eyes open and be alert to vacant houses.yellow lettersfollow up

@Ben G. it will be worth it, the podcast opened up my eyes to a lot of deals I would not have previously considered.

Yep the $500 specials can be a pit fall if one does not approach then with a well educated eye, we are also looking at properties that are already rented, but will still get the full inspections plus check City occupancy certification etc.When I first found BP, I quickly realised how valuable this site will be, hopefully I will be able to give back, though I am not a forum junkie as my evenings are walking the dog, cooking dinner for the family, usually quoting work then if there is any time left, property searching.