Operating expenses include taxes, insurance, management, maintenance, utillities paid by the owner (including during vacancies), advertising, entity maintenance, legal fees, evictions, court costs, capital expenses (not technically an operating expense), damage done by tenants above the deposit, lawsuits, office supplies, etc, etc, etc.Mike

That may have been a mistake; they perhaps should have done the standard screw-the-landlord procedure and kept the last month against the security deposit, but they were naive and assumed it would be returned...

Accordingly, property management activities that require a real estate license include: showing a unit for sale or lease, negotiating lease or real estate contract terms, maintaining security deposits, rent payments or earnest money deposits.Still searching for Missouri information.

The problem is tha every "builder's" contract I've ever seen was so one sided with out clauses for the seller that it may be tough.Lesson, if a deal cannot be secured for $1,000 or less, walk/run away.all cash

I'm with Mike---if you are going to put up a sizeable earnest deposit, make sure that your ducks are in a row first (i.e. financing)---if the REO bank does except your low ball offer, it will most likely be without the contigency to secure financing (in other words, can't finance it, thanks for the 10K).

can someone please clarify exactly how to secure a property with my name on the title that i am investing in--i am providing the capital for rehab, we have a contract for sale to end buyer--i want to collateralize my capital with the property--there are no other liens on it-- how do i do this?

My goal is to secure a listing on the property.

the challenge seems to be in finding an escrow/title company that will allow the "double escrow" to be done.....for example: there is an escrow open that is required by the lender once the "approval" from the lender is secured....then there needs to be another escrow opened between the "buyer" and the "end-buyer" on the same property....so, "end buyer" comes into escrow with the $300K plus closing costs, closes existing escrow on the property...then the title/escrow officer walks into the next room and applies the $250K plus closing costs to the original escrow to close that one.in theory and once in the past this was the way it was and still should be...but, now as it seems, most escrow/title companies are not wanting to do the "double" escrow for reasons of "full disclosure" to all parties, for fear of not being "sued" for some type of fraud.those of us not engaging in these tactics get penalized.....but, such is life....i have a title company that has stated they will do a "double" escrow but, will need to let the lender know this fact. not disclose the "amount" the "end-buyer" is paying, merely disclose there is a 'double" escrow in effect....well, obviously this should kill the deal right at the very end....so, not a wise direction to take....

If the developer goes out of business you have no guarantee.Third, the supply could exceed the demand so that after two years there is little rental demand at the guaranteed level.Fourth, your home is at risk if you pull out cash and then later can not afford to pay it back.Focus on reading here and learning your local market better.

In addition, I'd suggest you to get a secured credit line, such as a secured credit card, to build up your beacon score.If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact me, I'll be happy to assist you.