State refund check is a decent size, but going straight to emergency savings (which I feel is not bolstered enough if things were to ever go sideways).I'm in this weird limbo with wanting to accelerate debt payoffs AND save a good amount for a venture into RE AND bolster emergency money (like 6+ months of living expenses saved...ideally 9-12 months would be nice). 

Credit it important but not my top priority.....depends on why the credit is lower than you would ideally have.....late payments, collections, huge balances...vs they have high debt but make all their payments...have some stuff lingering from recent divorce etc.

This exercise will help you ascertain the terrain, location and its fitting into your ideal property.(8)PROPER DUE DELIGENCE: This is the most important aspect of the whole tips and actually summarizes it all.

This particular "student" uses my spreadsheet which does budget for outside bookkeeping per property ($50 / month + tax prep) and 1 eviction per year, which ideally would not happen.  

The movie does a good job of staying A-political, but pulls no punches on it's scathing review of the role the Federal Reserve Bank had in all of the crises during the last century.It's definitely an interesting watch for real estate investors, because it explains how interest rates are used as tools to move the economy in one direction or another.

It looks like that movie Tron.

We are hopeful to close our first deal by the end of 2015, and ideally, we would like to house-hack on our first property.

Current area depressed looking for a better neighborhood (ours is ideal).

Ideally I would not have to live in the area and can diversify my properties amount different areas. 

Ideally I would like to buy and rent to start with.