But as long as the mortgage and other expenses including vacancy threshold cost is paid in full by the tenants and a few hundred dollars a month cash flow, my spouse and I can seriously pay off our expensive degrees in no time with just our income.

I have always included mine in the rent.  

I am married but my wife is is looking for a job and we cannot include her income on purchases....yet.

Hi all,I live in the Indianapolis area and am starting to think about potentially becoming a private money lender...I'm going to have to brush up on what the current state of real estate is as I haven't looked into the markets, etc in a while...My current question is related to CIREIA...Can anyone tell me what the 160 fee to join includes other than a monthly meeting and discounts at some stores?

Sometimes you have to go back and do some digging if they settle the property in an LLC so make sure the non-circumvent includes personally as well as any entity they may be part of no matter ownership percentage.

If you think of your partnership as small syndicates then you may consider including an acquisition fee for the time you spend finding the deals.  

@Russell Brazil does that include VA and USDA or only FHA?

I suppose you could write a contract including the agent's fees, if the numbers still make sense.        

@NickFeliciano... working on prospects in NW Indiana... including cities you may be interested in.

In particular, I'm curious about what to look for as a first-time home buyer with an eye on investing (specifically if you live in California) and out-of-state investing advice including how to research and what to look for when prospecting a state/county/neighborhood you know nothing about?