So, we did ALL the cosmetic work inside and out, HWF on first floor all sanded and refinfished and all new NICE carpet in the rest of the house, everything painted inside and out, all new light fixtures because former owners took every one but left the 2 drawer fancy dishwasher that no longer worked at all and the expensive brand drop in range that still worked I think, but was so unbelievably beat up and totally caked and coated with grease that we just scrapped it and replaced it with a new one!

On most of the training I have received, I have been taught to start building your buyers list first, find out what type of properties each of your buyers are into, how much of a reno are they looking to take on, price range, etc and thengo out and start looking for those deals.

This isn't a really fancy neighborhood though, its certainly not bad at all but not the type that vinyl siding would look out of place and my experience has been that a lot of buyers in this price range don't mind vinyl at all, many of them like the no-maintenance part of it and that it should keep its color for probably longer than they'll ever own the place, much longer.

@Kevin Cardinale As a realtor we have to make sure that a person who we take out can actually execute a deal in the price range they're asking us to look at.

As dictated by existing locations of the plumbing vent and drains, as well as electrical receptacles for range, microwave, refrigerator, dishwasher/disposer, some things are going to go where they need to go.So here is one alternative from left to right.=============== LEFT WALLSINK 24" with cabinet - vent stack there, hot and cold supplies there.DISHWASHER 24" with counter top.RANGE 30" - range receptacle there, microwave receptacle up top.Cabinet 30" with counter top.1/2" boardRefrigerator 30"=============== RIGHT WALLThe only problem is there is no counter space on either sides of the sink.So here are some decisions I am trying to make.(1) Is having a dishwasher a necessity for a 1/1?

If you throw a small car loan in there as well (as long as this doesn't kill your debt-to-income ratio) you can expect to be in the 660 range within 6-12 months assuming you're starting with absolutely no credit (good or bad).Lenders will also want to see reserves (funds left in your account after closing), FNMA requires 6 months PITI for loans on investment properties.Hope this helps!

Everyone I have encountered here has been very helpful and you will gain alot of information here.I am in Southern California and this market is out of my price range so I got brave and ventured into an area most people run from but it was what I could afford at the time and after a few hard lessons (read: expensive) I now have everything up and running smoothly and am now activly adding to my portfolio.

Probably be stuck in the 2-4 unit range.

We have 20 properties ranging in age from 1 to 90 years old.

Joy of working short sales I guess.Rough numbers are:Purchase: $180kRehab: $8kSale: $250kI was gonna change the floorplan some and update more and sell in the $275k range, but I think the better play is to just do paint, carpet, clean up and flip it quickly for $30k or so after holding/sales costs.Had some new private lenders not come through so its either find some money or a partner or go institutional hard money...which doesn't appeal to me.Open on terms and split depending on how the work/money/experience shakes out.