On the other hand its not hard to imagine the possibility of selling it for $70 to $80k in three years, which would not happen if I didn't put the money into it and will be a much bigger return than the $300/month I would make if it cashflowed properly.I have been debating this as I look at homes in a little worse neighborhoods, where a house that needs very little work can be bought easily for the same 25k or less and turn a profit from day one.

Best bet is to hand in your lowest offer and get the bank to start the short sale 'process', b/c that could take about 4-months for approval.

They aren’t checking every month to see if title has changed hands.

I don't really see it happening though.On the other hand, I advertise a bunch of SS as "short sale approved".

On one hand I'm thinking that I should naturally try to get a multifamily property so that I can ideally escape paying or at least reduce my rent.

I would use a random orbital, variable speed electric hand sander with wet/dry sandpaper on it (grounded plug) and just give that tile a whiz.

After you inspect the work, you hand over the checks.

It takes discipline to allow a unit to go vacant when there are people with money in their hand that want to rent it.

On the other hand, having a business entity (name, checking account, bus cards, etc) gives you more of a seasoned and professional appearance to others.

Get some sort of deposit in hand before financial s are released?