So I firmly believe that was a step in the right direction.Meanwhile, my girlfriend of three and a half years and I went to a rich dad free seminar down at the country club, and two things happened: she started to see where investing and 'financial intelligence' could take us, and I got fired up again about real estate investing (from two angles this time).Our current situation is as follows:Me:Almost zero cash and minimal credit available at this pointSOME stuff in collections from when I was in school, medical stuffsomewhere around 20,000 in school loans10,000 in credit card debt, plus another 5000 for my Jeep.Her:about 5000 in savings for a rainy dayprobably around 20,000 in available credit if she asked for itJUST(October) purchased the home we live in, so a new mortgage of 150,000That's about it.Right now I'm hurting for the winter, as I'm pretty new in the real estate business, and she's doing okay.

Normally rent variation based on start time of lease is minimal; I might give a lower rent to fill vacancy in winter for example, but otherwise i try to get a fari market rent (not always max market rent).But since you know when the hot season is, you want to time your lease renewal in that area to be during that hot time of the year, so you might end up with a lease for some number of months that isn't a multiple of 12 to do that.

Nothing profound, but key is to minimize outflows and maximize income.

If you have good tenants, the demands on your time should be minimal and it will put an additional $150 per month in your pocket.

Lethargic activity=minimal appreciation.

Another thing you can do to minimize your time involved is take out stuff that breaks down....garbage disposals, ceiling fans, etc and have them supply the washer and dryer.

Adam Gerig spoke for a while on systems and technology that are available (for free or minimal cost).

As the decision-making member of your LLc, you have an obligation to minimize expenses.

I'm targeting these properties because of the discount they offer, and the difference in rent they would bring is minimal, but the overall costs of the properties is significant.Why would I want to purchase a property that is live-able for 50K but still needs $5-7K in repairs for updates and ect when I could buy a property for 20-25K that needs twice as much repairs 10-15K and the difference in rent would be $50-$100 on a monthly basis.

The lack of a credit rating is going to make it difficult for pension funds or mutual funds to purchase the issued security, there is minimal rating requirements and investment criteria depending on the investor class.