But I would also want at least a 10% down payment, since if they stop paying and you have to foreclose, you could easily spend more than that in lost rent and legal fees, plus any damages to the house.

I'm Krista Patrick and I've actually been a member of BiggerPockets for about six months now but I've been spending my time reading (books, forums, the Ultimate Beginners Guide, getting started, etc), listening to podcasts, absorbing as much knowledge as I can, and saving but I think it's finally time to stop being scared and start introducing myself.

Are you content to spend nearly a year attempting to locate your next property in the LA market or do you have a plan to accelerate that process?

When I started looking for a fourplex, I really wanted to find a “great deal,” so I ended up spending about $2,000 marketing to fourplex owners in Los Angeles, and not one callback was one of those sellers you dream about, e.g., the guy who just about lost his shirt and needs to liquidate his assets for $0.70 (or even $0.85 for crying out loud) on the dollar–and these kinds of people typically would need a cash, not an FHA, buyer anyway–or that older widow who’s sick of dealing with tenants but still wants the monthly cash flow and would be open to seller financing.

Definitely looking forward to spending some time looking through forum discussions listening to more podcasts, & asking some questions!

Then take into consideration the amount of time your lawyer is going to spend fighting this lawsuit.During a lifetime, if you have one substantial claim, you will find that an umbrella policy is worth it.  

@Christian Bors  you did the wise thing there was an Aussie investor who bought a few units in Detroit... he decides he will spend his 6 week vacation fixing the units himself it was a duplex.... ( Aussie get 4 to 6 weeks)  well fly's to Detroit.. 

That could be some extra cash that you didn't have to spend money to market for.If this is of interest to anyone in the Rockingham or Guilford county areas or the Winston-Salem area in North Carolina, please, PM me, or email me from my bio page.Thanks for reading!

I’ve also been looking at Memphis too.For the last few months I’ve been spending countless hours researching REI and house flipping in particular and I think I’ve got the basics down on how the process works on the transaction side of things (at least it doesn’t seem intimidating anymore).

If Florida is anything similar to its northern neighbor (Georgia), you can probably build for as low as $60/sf if you're your own GC, if you don't have to spend a fortune on utility hook-ups and if permit costs are relatively low.We build with mid-level finishes in the low-$60s/sf in Atlanta...