I've been reading many posts on BP and now I'm ready to engage.My primary motivation for real estate investment is for retirement income.My primary goal is to buy & hold long term cash flowing rental properties.Right now I feel pretty confident because I dominated a family game of Monopoly today!

If they do that cutting commissions doesn't come into play at all.

I'd like to have skin in the game on my first new deals.

It should also provide a network that could help finding deals that put you ahead of the game that might not be realized just jumping in.

Its a numbers game and thats just what it takes to take deals down off MLS.2) What I would suggest is finding 2 or 3 realtors that are the listing agents for a majority of the bank owned properties in your area.

@Dwight Williams Welcome back to the game!

But real estate is a relationship business, so unless you want to make unnecessary enemies (and local RE agents are very quick to make enemies), just learn the rules of the game and keep playing it.Btw...

So, you really need to know your numbers with each project.It's a numbers game.

Some people just make a bad decision once in their life and then they are labeled and treated like they will forever be the scum of the earth.Just do a search for a list of felonies:Issuing a false certificate 175.40Sports bribe receiving 180.45Tampering with a sports contest in the first degree 180.51Rent gouging in the first degree 180.57Unlawful possession of a skimmer device in the first degree 190.86Promoting gambling in the first degree 225.10Possession of gambling records in the first degree 225.20Gaming fraud in the first degree 225.60Possession of unlawful gaming property in the second degree 225.75Use of unlawful gaming property 225.85Obscenity in the second degree 235.06Eavesdropping 250.05

I've been sending to both middle and lower class neighborhoods, playing with different fonts and envelopes, and its been interesting on how the response differs in each neighborhood.Its encouraging to hear that getting mentored from my friend is a good opportunity, I've had close friends telling me not to do it, but its better to listen to people who are experienced with real estate.As far as dialing in the arrangement, we'll be doing it on 3 levels:1.