If ya want to slam people about REI, maybe you should be an active investor yourself, wouldn't you agree?

The other biggie around here are assessments.

One who doesn't invest him/herself but is active in getting listings.

One is more active while the other causes you to wait for the world to come to you.

There is another thread active on this topic, so you might want to look there where I collected a number of BP threads together in one post:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/40651-who-do-you-use-for-credit-and-background-checks-

Make sure you have a percentage (usually 20%) set aside from your rent for overhead like when the condo isn't rented after a tenant leaves (unrented days), repairs, HOA dues, utilities you pay, condo assessments, etc.

I will also post one of them threads about mentoring, I had thought about it but.......I have found a couple of websites - one the of the 2 owner/brokers is an active REInvestor in the area and I sent some emails to the few I found that mentioned working with investors.:)

Now in my calculations the following numbers are really thin to the point of not working when I take into account the hard money fees and holding cost that would be assessed.

i feel like break even would be fine for me.i'm about to close on a condo for 157k. it's a 2BR 2 BA. multiple comps in the past have come out 180k, but those units were in really good condition. i got it appraised and it came out at 165k. i have a friend who says he can help me do most of the rehab for 5k so i just assumed it will cost closer to 10k.so i'm assuming after making repairs of 10k on top of me 157k, my net profits would be 180k-167k = 13k.I thought that was a good deal but you guys are suggesting I need 25% return but that would mean I need 40-45k profit.So I make my 13k sweat equity, and I saw a studio apt in the building go for 750/mo so I figured that if my mortgage payments are 750/mo and my assessments are 500/mo, I would need 1250/mo to break even.If I get a roommate and charge 600-700/mo I would only have to come up with 550-650/mo which is already cheaper than the 800-900/mo I was previously paying.

Do your comps, get an accurate assessment of what it'll take to get the property up to selling standard, and for really big projects, make sure that you have a good contractor (unless you plan on doing all of the heavy work yourself).