How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale CarnegiePower of Now - Eckhart Tolle7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey

The nice thing about renting the property prior to settlement (lease start date must be the day after your purchase settlement day):You start out with a cash flow boost, because you pay mortgage in the "rear" so you have no mortgage due for 30 days, and the rent is paid to you in advance.If you purchase a property with no money down, than this setup creates a situation where  you have a free month of rent at the time of settlement, in other words "you get paid" for purchasing the property.

Those trends show no signs of slowing though perhaps the recent downturn in the economy boosted them more than usual.

Was a good influence on me before (paid off all debts aside from student loans) I feel I've moved beyond his somewhat general rules for the average American debt "sinner".

We learned not to allow others to influence our decisions.

The following ways can help boost your score-  pay on time, increase your credit line as much as possible, payoff a big portion of the outstanding balance before running the credit check 

There is also some exterior work needed to boost the curb appeal.

For example, if you are in a lower COL area and can find a duplex or triplex for say 150k, you can put down 7.5k, maybe more with fees and keep the rest as reserves and also use the money you're saving in rent to boost reserves and save for future investments.If small multis aren't an option, consider buying a fixer upper SFR with a 203k loan to boost the value through a renovation thats cost can be rolled into the loan.

You should always invest in the fundamentals of populations growth and the factors that influence it.

Cap Rate is determined by the market, so an investors can not influence cap rate.