This willinclude flooring, dry wall, paint, fixtures, and small kitchenette which will probably include a small stove top range.

Tip number 1.The closer to home:The more knowledge you have in the area, The less pitfalls you can potentially have, The more contacts you have,The more control you have.Tip number 2.Try something that is doable. don't flush all your funds and find yourself dry when closing costs are more then expected or when the first unexpected expense arises.

However,  the surveillance camera showed that a young bear pushed it down with one finger this morning.

I have done exactly one thing right:  buy a fixer house in an amazing location as a primary residence and through the experience learn what you need to know about real estate finance, the cost and pain of renovations (I recall asking the inspector what dry rot looked like and him poking a hole in a beam with his finger "like that") and the value of appreciation as a financing tool.   

I have my fingers crossed to house hack in Nashville TN / surrounding areas and have to get my husband on board to do it.

We did have some ongoing HVAC issues for a couple of weeks after the tenant moved in, but nothing major came out of it and everything is running smoothly now (knock on wood, fingers crossed, etc.).The Refinance:The refinance process was very similar to our first deal; We started the application 5 months after purchasing the property and it took about a month and a half to close on the loan.

They overpay, then complain/blame when they lose money on the deal.Most of them burn out after one or two deals, but then they get replaced by the next wave of newbs.I feel like the only thing that's going to break the cycle is if access to capital begins to dry up, but I see no sign of that coming anytime soon.  

I know you don't need pressure treated in the dry areas. 

I'm going into this endeavor like a dry sponge ready to absorb all information given to me..

When the REOs dried up, we were the first in our market (2011) to begin using direct mail and getting our portion of market share of motivated sellers who were not aware of the rising market.