Have you considered a college student handling the duties at a discounted rent?

But you have to know what you can do in a timely manner, correctly, legally.Outside of that - buy materials in bulk; ask for a discount for larger purchases; purchase items on closeout or clearance when possible; utilize common materials and sizes (8 foot ceilings, for example); be selective at where to spend and where to scrimp.

Found a good handymanFound good plumberFound good HVAC (get on an HVAC maintenance program for discounts)With all try to get one that has better after hours fees since that's when problems always happen!

Also, if im already selling it at a discount which is cheaper than the pva of the property already, how do i figure the ARV when repairs are done.  

The house meets our needs currently but we'd like to move into a 4 br house in the next two years.Help me figure out why I shouldn't do the following:*Buy the house for around $140,000 (market value)Since you are buying it from the landlord, you might want to see if they would give you a discount 3-5% for not including a real estate agent.

@Brie Schmidt - I'm talking about the portion of the taxes that you can not deduct, since when you purchase a new property the portion at closing from the seller they deduct (using the HUD-1 statement as their tax source document), but the new owners are responsible for paying it since it's credited to them and discounted from funds due at closing.  

That is a pretty large discount to ARV.

If you use him please drop my name, I'm not getting paid but maybe he'll give me a discount on my next inspection. 

Charles,In addition to what Steve and Michael said, here are some typical exit strategies for buy-and-hold investors:1) Buy at a discount, do a cash-out refi, get your equity/investment back.

If I had renters in hand for next yr (even is I have to discount) would make me a lot more comfortable.