Brute force and perseverance will of course win the day eventually but add a little brains to your brawn and success will find you sooner.

that consistently winning is consistently the best ROI. 

A great win-win.

@Femi IbrahimTotally agree with everyone else on the post that refinancing your primary home would be stupid considering you can easily handle the payment and that would just restart the loan.

You need a place that fits a certain criteria you define and I personally suggest a place close enough to get to know well and if you are planning to rehab and do this without help, be able to visit easily and often.

It could start with writing 3-10 things you know you need to do, then do the easiest one first so you have a win and see if you want to do some more.

The quality of agents runs the gamut, but I bet you don't ask the attorney to represent you and tell them I won't pay you until I am sure you win the case (obviously some do work that way but talking about the situations where that is not the case).That being said, if you ask someone to run around and do a bunch of "free" work eventually that tapers off as they find clients that respect their time, energy, resources (assuming they are worth their weight). 

Rents, based on talking to a friend who has 3 properties in the same town, should rent easily for $650-$700/ month.I’m looking at pulling equity out with a refinance and looking for my next property.The town only has population of 7,000, but towns of 100k within 30-45 minutes drive in all 4 directions.Anybody investing in similar markets out there?

If you go with a DST, you will be able to easily offload all of the management hassles and hopefully just get a regular check and great ongoing tax breaks on distributions along the way.

For example, you can't go to the sheriff sales hoping to get approved for a mortgage after you have the winning bid...