Hi Ron Steele & Antonio Denmark,I'm in Birmingham as well and have done a little SFH investing but am really looking to get into some multifamily properties in 2013.

We do the following (extra $ amount in parenthesis):stainless steel appliances ($500)grid windows in front of house ($150-200)New interior doors ($600)Recess lighting ($100)Backsplash ($300)Seller pays closing costs ($10k - but we add this to the sales price of the rehab - It's a BIG seller as we're usually the only one on the market offering this)We also do the row of accent tile in our bathrooms that Brad does.

Thanks to all ppls replying to my previous posts.Here is another potential problem I really can not come up with a solution.I bought all the material. what can I do to prevent my workers from steeling the material.

Heres what the specs of the home say from the builder:Professionally engineered wood frame construction per planEngineered steel tie-down rods on all exterior and interior load bearing walls for hurricane wind resistanceQuality assurance orientation at framing and pre-closing stages.Is this something I should be concerned about?

General repair would be to install a steel post on proper size concrete footing directly below splice / sag.

Ideally this would not be my only property, I would continue to invest that cashflow in B and possibly A class properties as well to diversify my portfolio in terms and spread my risk.Additionally, I've been told that you live and die by my property manager.

As @Edward B. and @Nina Davenport have said above, you should use this source of funding only for Flips...not holds.  

REIAs are the original way experienced folks banded together to trade contractors, solve legal and deal problems.  

I hope you mean "steel" and not "steal" lol!

My area has been in a depression since the mid 80's when we lost our steel mills.