They are the guidelines/laws that you must abide by as a landlord.

I tend to agree that my best bet is to find something off market and I'm working on building up a network that will help me get eyes on some of those deals. 

Keep it simple is a good guideline.2) My contracts have earnest money credited to contract price.3) Best to spend the money for an hour with a real estate attorney.4) Subject-to or Pay it off at closing.

Live and do something based on the present mostly with a little bit on the future of what you hope.Do not bet on anything about the future beyond what you have learned from others like the Chamber of Commerce locally about developments that has been City approved but has not happened yet.  

She specializes in kitchen and bath so I know she knows cabinet installers but I bet she knows others as well.

These houses sold for $100k+ in the past so there is space for both cash flow and appreciation.Inventory is getting tight in my target burbs so I'd say move now and see how it goes, it's a small bet at these prices.

I know some people like "Travel Hacking" and I'm willing to bet there are fellow travel lovers on here who do this regularly.

One guideline I use says that if the rent is $1000/mo, then the most I can pay for that rental (including any renovation) is $80,000.One caveat though - if you purchased that $80K property and it had plenty of deferred maintenance (needs a roof, windows don't work properly, old HVAC, galvanized plumbing), then you would need to have these items fixed prior to purchase or factor in this maintenance (pay me now or pay me later...).  

Hi @Daniel Burdi,BP has a book on the subject that isn't bad.If you want nitty gritty mortgage guideline things, however, such a book wouldn't be useful, as guidelines change monthly. 

So in the last few years asset prices have doubled, while rents have only gone up a bit (so basically CAP/returns have fallen off a cliff since everyone wants to own in Montrose)Better bet would be to go a few miles east.