When those fail I go with a skip trace service.

My question is does anyone know of a more accurate skip trace service?

Scoping the neighborhood for distressed properties I'll find either absentee owners or those recorded as occupants which upon further investigation aren't actually occupying the home and require some skip tracing.

Does this mean I skip step 1 and go right to the building dept?

Skip down if you want to get to the meat and potatoes.My net worth $23,795 not including house #141k mortgage on house #1 mortgage is $650.00 month 10 year$0 other debt10k cash52k 457 plan5k spilt between taxable account and RothMonthly bills utilities + mortgage is $1095.00Car is paid for with 90k miles, reliable, and maintenance is done on it.House #1It is currently being lived in and could easily rent for 900$ monthly.This place will need 2-3.5k worth more of renovations but it can wait awhile before it would become any form of an issue.So I purchased a 2-3bed 1 bath with a nice flat yard with 3 parking spaces house for 59k put 15k into it.

I'd say skip the condo and look for a 3 to 4 unit property to buy with your FHA loan.  

My bit to suggest is to skip the carpet downstairs.

So you're skipping the first step and jumped right into flipping properties before you know it.Don't start a LLC till you need an LLC.

My thought are if the issue bother you, I would skip it.

The result of having cash based tenants is that skips, evictions and damage are much more common than with credit based tenants.• Vast majority of available multi family are older buildings which have more maintenance issues.