Another option to hedge against moves in the Treasury curve (which would effect LIBOR, which would effect bank rates) are the two ETFs: FLAT and STPP.FLAT bets on the yield curve flattening (it is unusually steep at the moment)andSTPP bets on the yield curve getting steeper (slightly possible in the short term, but not such a good long term bet).These are fairly new products.

The message in the printed matter should highlight your property, and should also encourage the recipient to refer friends or family (after all, those people could already be familiar with the area and find it desirable to be close to the friend or family member).Any FSBO ads will always get a lot or responses from realtors who will do just about anything to get you to list the house for sale with them.As mentioned by an earlier post, getting listed with a flat fee broker can get you on the MLS.

Loading up any more debt on the property than what makes you break even for tax purposes probably wouldn't make much sense (unless you have an alternate use for the excess debt you would be putting on the property).Of course I'm not an accountant nor do I play one on tv so all of the standard disclaimers apply.

Thai, You're leaving out a lot of expenses in the real world, including vacancies, maintenance, legal fees, evictions, damage done by tenants in excess of the security deposit, capital expenses (not technically an operating expense), entity maintenance, utilities (if only during vacancies), etc, etc, etc.

I am about to put in a couple offers on some short sale 3-flat buildings.

It's the barbeque...Others may say that Texas has been adding jobs and population at a steady rate without the excessive run up in real estate prices.

Of course, no.Agreed, not to mention evictions, damage done by tenants in excess of the security deposit, lawsuits, utilities during vacancies, etc, etc, etc.

We've had two times where they've flat-out refused (though like I said above, on one of them they eventually agreed), and when that happens, we just accept it...we go into all FNMA deals expecting that we may have to hold for 90 days for this reason, so generally they're really good deals to be begin with.

You can refuse to name a price, but ultimately, if they don't want to make an offer until you do, the onus is on you as the seller to name a price that will allow the deal to get done without any negotiation.So, if I asked how much you wanted, and you flat-out refused to give me a number, I would likely offer you $1, and then see what your counter-offer was.This is just my opinion (and it's just an opinion), but I used to negotiate professionally, so I have some experience...

I stole this joke from someone else so I can't take credit but I wanted you all to enjoy it as I didI had a flat tire on the interstate, so I eased my car over to the shoulder of the road, carefully got out of the car and opened the trunk.