I have a Standard Pacific home and the roof developed a leak just after ten years.

Self managing is a great way to learn the business.

The city is still continuing to develop, since they've only completed about 50% of the approved construction projects.

A high-low price range would be developed to help you out.When you are first starting out just figure any improvements will be the average.

I'm looking to find out the pros  and cons  of using a self directed IRA to purchase a rental.

Although I'm sure we all do this mentally I was considering developing one in print to go along with spreadsheets to make sure there isn't anything overlooked when considering a property. 

I currently do this in DC by living in the basement unit and renting out the upstairs, but I doubt you could make this work in DC with only $50k down (you'd have to take out a $750k loan which you probably won't qualify for) But the price points in Prince George's County are around $250k-350k so you probably could make it work there.The numbers definitely work better in Richmond than in the DC metro area but if you are looking for experience then I would buy and live in your first property and self manage it to get the full landlord experience and take advantage of owner occupied financing.Good luck!

After 6months of jumping through hoops of securing financing as a self-employed person, searching for the right property, getting the offer accepted, negotiating roof repairs with the seller to meet the FHA guidelines, I finally got it closed.  

Such a good, comprehensive overview and introduction to help us keep perspective on all the ways to develop our businesses.

The area where the duplex is, is being (albeit slowly) renovated, there quite a bit of development going on and prices are definitely on the move in Daytona Beach.