So much of the mystery of the process is gone and I'm a lot more confident about the process.

I like the process of finding a fixer upper and making it a nice house.Considered rental investments but right now to me and my wife - fixing and improving homes seems more exciting than managing a rental.

Welcome Brian, I'm new to RE investing as well but feel so confident after finding BP.

Cash out refi and heloc are not seeming options at this juncture since I just officially started my RE investing business, am self employed (debt/income ratio) and I'm working on improving my FICO scores. 

I tend to acquire multifamily property in markets with a compelling growth story (of course the future is uncertain but it pays to begin in the right direction), improve the property to bump the income in the front side of the investment, then monitor for the optimal exit point.  

Scenario - Purchase a building for $70,000Initial improvements $25,000New value $145,000Refinance at 75% of $145,000 = $108,750 mortgageThe problem that I am running into is that I am showing an long term asset value of $70,000 + $25,000 = $95,000 but an offsetting long term liability value of $108,750.  

As the rentals I own (and continue to build) are fairly turnkey I am confident I can deal with the few problems as they come up remotely; calling tradesmen to address issues, etc.

I'm not sure what capital improvements you can make for $8,400 a year.

It's in a very good area of the city (Miami) and I'm confident it can generate a solid return based on the asking price, however there's just one catch (There always is!)

I've read some of the forums and blog posts, and everyone's examples always seem to be slightly different than mine and I want to make sure I approach this correctly.Under SHST, can I expense the cost of an improvement (in this case, a new water heater) fully in the year it's placed into service?