I have also owned many businesses:johnmichael: Laundry Mats, Retail Stores, Flea Markets, Convince Stores, Arcades, Rack Merchandising, Mystery ,Mystery shopping Company, Auction Centers, Answering Services, Vending, And the list goes on.johnmichael: Now enough pumping sunshine up my own skirt LOLjohnmichael: Do understand we will be going over the basics and then step by step jump into the more advanced and creative strategies of locating Real Estatejohnmichael: I do want to cover basic investing strategy for new investors; johnmichael: STEP 1 - Buy a piece of real estate under the most favorable terms and conditions possible with as much leverage (OPM--other people's money) as you can.johnmichael: The art of this game is finding moneyjohnmichael: Money is everywhere folksjohnmichael: How many Dr's in your townsDan_Auito: We are gaining strength in that dept as more and more lenders are finding our home herejohnmichael: The are of OPM is just asking for it!

Make certain that whatever income you derive covers your costs of owning the property, plus a profit.Check to see whether the value of other area properties have increased or decreased in the past five years.

Remember all seller financed notes are purchased at a discount (depending upon the terms, buyer’s credit, etc.) .... so there must be enough profit to cover the spread.

Try and cover all the fact being discussed.

You might try this free site.http://www.homeradar.com/ It gives comps for most areas, there are some areas it doesnt cover, but it is really good site.Mark

They can be safe transactions, they can work, but I have yet to meet anyone, I mean anyone, including attorneys who have boilerplate L/Os, that covered the bases sufficiently.

However I also wrote in the lease contract that the refrigerator, washer and dryer are there ONLY for the convenience of the tenant and will not be covered by maintenance.

Also, if you do lease options, I like having a home warranty because in the agreement I have a clause that any repair under $400 the tenant must take care of themselves anything over $400 will be covered by the home warranty.

I have enough in reserves to cover any vacancies and plan to keep the rentals for the long term.

It is so tough to cover everything else, that you never think that in an instant, an emergency can wipe you out.