This might sound goofy to some people, but I don't buy anything that's further than 10 minutes from a good hardware store (Lowes, Home Depot, Ace, whatever).

My lease doesn't allow anything to be stored outside.

What is the old saying about the storekeeper not minding the store?

I'm under contract on a rehab project from a referral that I got from somebody I met at the store waiting to check out.

No matter how much you loved this one pair, and even thought it is in the store you are in right now...right in front of you, if that store only has a size 6...it won't fitNow, if the store a round the corner sold the same shoes, but in your size, where do you think you should be buying those shoes...if you wanted that pair of shoes that is?  

This isn't the kind of corner you want to try and cut.

On Saturday night, while most of the citizens of Seoul were busy drinking and dancing the night away, I happened to be talking to a 4th year university student, Drummond, from the Ukraine who was visiting Korea as part of his studies abroad.We stood on the rooftop of the Southside Parlor, a southern-themed bar in one of the hottest nightlife spots in Seoul, exchanging information about real estate opportunities in Europe, America and Korea.This was the site of a Happy Hour Meetup hosted by the Seoul Real Estate Investing Meetup, a group I help organize.In another corner of the rooftop, @John Kantola ), there's a good chance our property has already appreciated 40% based on comps.* I was able to help with the underwriting process of a $6m condo deal by showing a little hustle and proactively volunteering my services* I've become partnered with MHP investors, again by being proactive and helping first to give value in an area I know - building systems. * I've met a ton of really good people through BP and through our meetup, including a fund manager that helped buy $2 billion in distressed Korean real estate during the IMP Crisis of 1997.

We are now just sitting on that - with a plan to refinance and access an equity LOC after a few more of the properties around the corner are finished and sold.

If you really really want to buy an apartment in New York City the first thing you should do is to go to a Mortgage originator and go to FTC.gov and download your free credit report and bring that with youYour past credit history is not the biggest problem; what is the biggest problem is that you are aggressive in building new referencesThe fastest way to build a stronger credit report is to do what's called "bank round robin"Take $1000 and go to bank one like Bank of New York, and talk to the manager and say that youd like to build a credit rating and get a mortgage within 12 monthsTheyll give you a secured loan with your thousand; then you take that thousand and go to bank to like Wells FargoTell the bank manager the same thing, that you want to pledge that thousand as a secured CD or savings account and get a  $1000 loanThese are called installment loans and now your job is to double up on payments on both loansSo it say your payments $80 a month with each loan or 160 for both of them every monthYou then make four payments every month and they'll be paid off in six monthsAt the end of six months you have 2 open accounts with two banks on installment loans, and paid as agreed with zero balancesYou may want to take one of those credit cards and establish credit at Macy's or other department stores with no more than two of them; Buy something and pay it off right away or keep a small balance because credit utilization rate is an important factor; this means keeping a 30 to 40% balance and even though it cost interest get you more points on your FICO scoreYour length of job in the same industry, you length of residency in the same place, and how you pay your bills on time will build a credit rating faster than anythingFYI I do lease-option assignments where I help the tenant buyers get mortgagesThis plan works faster than anythingGood luck

I am currently reading real estate investing by magraw hill and my local book store had an entire shelf of litature on the matter.