If next door burns, good chance you burn too.So do you believe that we should be willing to pay more tax to help house the homeless.

Also pondering if I can do this again or burn the extra money on paying a contractor for the hard stuff: Footing, framing, roof, etc...

Nothing, big fat zero.What would my cash partner had if I wouldn't agree on that?

Be sure to fully analyze deals so your not burned down the road.Did you determine what the Fair Market Value for similar properties are? 

I've been burned by this.

Yes, we have a plan but it must be properly executed)- Vendor contacts (not as big of a deal if you hire a 3rd party mgmt. company but big deal if you don’t)- Local legal experts for contracts (a bad one can burn you)- Knowledge of taxes assessments (fairly easy to figure out but still a learning curve)- Best local lasagna place (I love lasagna…just make sure you’re still paying attention!

I would not let a burned out property scare me off if I have a good understanding of what it will take to revive it, the costs and am comfortable the numbers and my, or my contractors ability, to pull it off. 

I like your fire though, so keep that burning and once you get back, let nothing stop you men, the sky is the limit. 

Our Brookings place should be much easier to justify, but since I was burned once, now I don't trust the process. 

I was running my own company in the music industry for the last 12 years where I was fortunate and disciplined enough to build up some savings to have as working capital knowing one day I would go into REI.I started my music company at 22 years old and was able to build a pretty well known brand in my field.I got burned out and lost my passion for it and decided a year ago it was time to move on to real estate.I'm still young enough and naive enough to think I can build an even bigger business in REI and eventually scale my way up to having a large portfolio of SFH's and MFR's.