@Tanner GishUtility segregation is a fantastic way to add value, BUT its not always easy and its typically not cheap.

I'd work my *** off for a year, live in a van, eat Ramen noodles, save every dime I could gather, and buy a small, cheap, SFH in a good location that needed work for cash.

My only real exposure to real estate is a few books that I've read on the topic and I was actually referred to these forums by reading one of Brandon Turner's books and this looks like a great place to begin my real estate education :)I'm just your average guy that is fed up with a 9-5 job and looking to become financially free in my future, but even more than that to get rid of the boss and free up my time to do the things I enjoy most, so I guess you can say I am highly motivated to look into this new venture.My present time goals are to educate myself about the real estate world while connecting with those who are where I want to be and hopefully finding someone who can mentor me in this area.And my next goal after that would be to acquire a multi-family home here in Orange County that would allow us to live rent-free or cheap in the same home.Thanks for stopping by.

So it begins.I wrote down a goal of buying a SFH as a rental (while still living in my studio apartment because it's cheap) sometime this August/September.  

Just last week I ordered some vinyl flooring in bulk that wasn't carried in the store and they knocked 10% off and they will be shipped right to my door.For blinds, JCPenney (seems hard to believe) has proven to be the cheapest for decent quality, just make sure you have their current coupon code.Ebay and Amazon have cheap cabinet knobs and pulls.

Knowing how to manage is critical for succeeding in buy and hold.AOA is great, and you can become a member and use them to run credit and background checks for cheap.

Personally I think Vegas is a great location...lots of hotel rooms, cheap airfare to get here, plenty of conference space, etc.Please let me know if I can help in any way.

Really, it's running on WordPress and for $5 per month you can get a host that will host WordPress and it is pretty easy to set up and configure yourself and there is a lot of free information online about that.I'm a developer by trade myself, and am currently offering small projects for free and larger ones pretty cheap in order to rebuild my portfolio and get back into freelancing.

Now I wish property here n Chicago was as cheap as there.

I ended up being in it too deep so I won't go into the numbers ;)The major things I learned:The most expensive thing is cheap laborA strong contract is your best friendSticking to a contract and payment schedule is important.