Lesson:  Set strict rules for your tenants on maintenance  .  

2nd Question: Do I try to strictly market these properties to investors?

A primary 2 unit Fannie Mae requires 85 percent LTV and a 3-4 unit requires 75 percent LTV.You would have to use a conventional lender that has the option to choose one of these guidelines as not all lenders have the option and many times the guidelines end up being more strict than the above mentioned. 

Never actually timed myself or anyone else but I have a 30 gal heater in my mountain cabin and we routinely have  2 kids (even when they were teenagers) and 2 adults take a shower in the morning, one after the other.  

Many routine legal services are charged on a flat base fee basis (eg.

I have created very strict practice and methods to facilitate the success.

This was a meeting where no contracts or anything were signed, strictly people talking real estate.After our meeting I set up an auto email through the MLS for Rob based on the specific towns, price, and types of houses he was interested in buying.Within a couple days Rob got back to me with a list of houses he was interested in seeing.We went out on a Saturday and viewed about 7 multi families in the town of Middletown, CT, a market I am familiar with.Rob knows this market very well too and really did his due diligence upfront on the properties we were planning on looking at.

Conforming bedroom in a basement -1) Proper ceiling height- varies around the country, usually between 6'-10" to more common 7', and this can get complicated if there are any soffited areas of the bedroom ceiling2) Closet- even a minimum size on this, usually 22" deep3) Proper electrical, proper heating requirements - must have a light and a switch located at the entrance, must be able to be heated4) Minimum square footage size of the room, usually 70 sq feet5) Egress - varies wildly in cost due to conditions, half below ground basement, fully below ground, walk out, set backs etc...Like Bill said - consult the local building dept, the codes for egress window wells are super strict, very detailed and can be confusing, they can get very picky, right down to if it needs a ladder the distance the ladder can stick out from the window well wall and then the clearance in front of the ladder to the window.Be very careful talking to anyone about egress windows with wells, this is one of the most screwed up things we continually hear about, and very expensive to fix if done incorrectly

With that said, the areas of Richardson feeding the best schools have < 30-days of inventory and properties routinely go under contract in less than a week.  

I am looking strictly to be able to buy and sell my own properties.