I have been helping many who have contacted me with knowledge on certain types of deals.I am thinking of charging a consulting fee that will be credited to the buyers at closing off of my commission when a purchase goes through.I have to think about spending time with people who are serious about doing business and not just educating them and taking no action.I sent a plumber out today to inspect plumbing on a vacant apartment building and I am paying him for the trip.Brandon free classes are done at Home Depot on how to install things and if you spend time in the store you will start learning what materials cost.Free to you and you are not wasting anyone's time.Check with other investors at your local REI meeting to find out references of great contractors who charge a fair price for work.

I purchased it at the beginning of August 2011.If you're making only $50/month now when it's relatively new to your portfolio, you're likely going to be losing a lot of money later.Remember, every 20 years or so you're going to have to replace the roof, the HVAC system, a couple water heaters, siding repair, electrical/plumbing upgrades, etc.

My plumbers deal with plumbing, electricians deal with electricity, HVAC for the HVAC.... and so on.However, I will say that a general-purpose handyman around here will run in the $20-25/hr range.

., no drywall, simple plumbing, plenty of ground clearance underneath, access underneath at any point by removing skirting, window a/c, simple electric furnace).

The bigger problems you will face will have to do with city inspections for plumbing and electrical plus having a good heating source etc etc.

Check for water leaks in the plumbing and condensation lines for the mechanicals.

The house was being lived in as section 8 (government subsidized housing) until the bank took it back - i've looked up the section 8 standards, and apparently the inspector was being paid off or just didn't pay attention to detail....so yes, it's very rentable as-is, and there are so many very low income people around here that would be willing to rent it as-s, but we want to be good landlords, and we want to protect our investment (siding and roofing repair).. since the inspection, we also had to add on 3k of plumbing work (leak under the gravel driveway) and 3K of foundation work (additional piers needed under the house to support it well and masonry repair needed on the brick foundation)

1 bathroom comes with 1 set of plumbing, while 2.5 baths come with 3 sets.

You're looking at costs for fixing the water leak (plumbing labor +materials), removing the water and mold, replacing anything the water and mold may have touched, getting certificate of mold, etc.

Not sure about the plumbing or electrical systems yet.