If there any Real Estate Agents, employers, General contractors, home inspectors etcetera in the Northern VA area that are following this thread or if you know someone that is looking for reliable and inexpensive part time help on a project or odd job, Please let me know.

If anyone out there knows of a team of inexpensive roofers in the dfw area that can come do a copmosition roof job in Lake Dallas, please let me know.Roof is on a mobile home, it is 20squares and needs reenforcing of most all trusses.

"An interesting thing to note is that the units don't have individual utility metering and so the owner has been paying the utility/electric bills for the units to the tune of 15k per year in expense themselves.

I am hoping to purchase it for around $80k and have estimated rehab at $25k ( I am a contractor and know this is an accurate and possibly over budgeted)My question is, what would be the best way to finance this with little or no money down and work a deal that is both fair to me and my sweet grandma who is now in expensive assisted living? 

Here's the question:  I am considering using a sole proprietor d/b/a as the property manager, and these are my reasons:Record keepingSeparate account that wouldn't commingle with other personal funds"Evidence" that the property management is a 'sole proprietorship" possibly removing my husband from that avenue of liabilityD/b/a in our county is relatively inexpensive.  

The real estate is inexpensive and it's a college town so it's usually always rented.

I personally would not recommend a war zone, I would buy inexpensive rentals in blue collar neighborhoods that are not the burbs, but you are not getting shot at while showing the place either.

We have 4 houses in the burbs of Detroit that we manage from Atlanta and I have been stunned by how undervalued the areas are - with patience, you can find a practically move in ready house needing ~$2k of work for less than $40k in the suburbs another poster noted...I look for areas with "decent" schools (yellow/5+),low crime, and reasonably well kept surrounding homes/yards.Since investing in this area, I've been struck by how inexpensive everything is (labor, furnishings, cars, food) compared to the rest of the country.

Your H06 insurance sometimes covers the deductible and the contents inside should be really inexpensive (mine are less that $150/year for a 3BD, 3BA 15 year old condo).  

So if a duplex brings in $1200 per month - you can figure $600 will go out in expenses.