Evidentially they are suppose to be pretty effective.From the beginning of my RE career I have personally addressed and signed every letter I've sent.

In commercial RE, you typically use annual figures when running the numbers.

I have been into RE for a while now but haven't gone full force yet, only own rentals at this time.

ha ha ha ha haKevin - welcome aboard the crazy ship that is BiggerPockets.

Jmac,Just as you would for your persoanl residence, when getting a loan on a residential RE property, you are signing loan docs "personally guarantee" the loan.

This is a new federal law that you can get your report from each agency once per year at no cost to you.The process should take about an hour or so as you have to keep re-entering the same data for each agency.If you are married do separate reports, not joint.

Good luck in your RE adventures.

Joshua - great idea to re-emphasize the point this thread originated with.

In other words, can I offer $200,000 bid and go to the lender to let him approve $230,000 so that we can cash out the $30,000 for rehabbing and cosmetic upgrade, etc.If not, will lending money from Private and/or hard money lenders and re-finance the house within 3 months of closing and pay back the private or hard money lender work?

I've cashed in quite well on this by re-selling!