My husband does not assist in managing so i have to feel comfortable by myself. 20k buys you an $100k house.

Although your angle is to help out(both them and yourself ;-)) put yourself in the shoes of a pre-foreclosure homeowner receiving tons of marketing mail....Kudos,Mary

I think experience has a lot to do with the agents comfort level in going outside the box too.

I am a newbie as well, but feeling more comfortable thanks to BP.

Have someone else call them and set up an appointment if you don't feel comfortable on the phone.

Or I could come to feel comfortable buying with cheap money now, and weathering a drop in housing prices seeing as how I'm trying to buy a very rentable house and hold it 25 years.

Try to put yourself in the investor's shoes and run the numbers on a deal based on the different splits you mentioned above and see if you feel comfortable asking an investor to invest based on those numbers.

You'll have to speak with your attorney and possibly indicate in the rider that you will pay for any repairs, up to some dollar amount, to make the seller more comfortable with the FHA loan.

A big reason for investing in real estate for me was freeing up more of my "time budget" over the long term to "spend" on things I'd rather do than wake up early to go to an on-site w2 job (although I actually like mine well enough), and be able to live comfortably (although I live relatively frugally now).I would recommend discussing those numbers with your wife too, when talking about 1-2 hours a day on ALL family activities and help..

Make sure your agent is comfortable and knowledgeable regarding their time frames, inspection periods (if you're an investor...you do NOT have an inspection period.