The tenants waste your time, money, energy, and have NO prode of homeownership.

I gave a talk last Saturday at http://www.meetup.com/NEWPORTBEACHINVEST/events/23...and over 25 people were there, great energy and was really fun to share with the RECEPTIVE GROUP!

All the same problems exist, except you are putting money into the property.It seems like if you live according to the 50% rule, you believe that a property is a cash flow machine - and that the market is efficient enough that you won't earn a real return through appreciation, rising rents, inflation reducing the real interest your paying - so if you don't have a positive income flow, don't do it.I don't believe the RE market is nearly that efficient... of course I'm not claiming I can beat the market - but I bet many of you people do.

Norman Podhoretz , the editor at large for Commentary magazine (I recommend that you take a look at this magazine even if only online) said it best “ Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence. â€Self esteem and self confidence are also at stake.

My target would be to make at least about $5K per month from rentals and at least $15K per fix-upper, doing about 4 of these each year.Do you think it is a reasonable goal for someone with very minimum RE experience ( but a lot of enthusiasm and energy, and of course some cash in hand) ?

Follow them.If you are able to proceed without legal representation you should first attend several court sessions to see how others do it.Even so, around here Magistrates run their little fiefdoms as they please -- athough you can certainly appeal a ruling should you have the time, energy, money and willingness to piss the Magistrate off.

In my shoes i am definitely not good at everything but i am efficient enough to get the job done.However, i do believe that in the future when it comes time for me to expand my business and grow, i am going to have to bring on people who are "MUCH" better than me in other area.As Will would say "Network is your Networth"Geoff Murphy

3) Is there a more cost-efficient way to mail out a lot of envelopes than to stamp each one?

As with any business, and maybe even more so in real estate, having priorities is crucial in determining where our energies are best and most efficiently focused.

If you don't focus all your energy on taking care of the crops you put in, you are totally wasting the resources you do have.