.- OR -2) Find a decent handyman who can handle most general purpose repairs.

Decided to read the first few suggestions and then went about my day, while still thinking about the purpose of this post.

For the actual purpose of buying MY investment property (4bdr live in) I have financing mostly lined up but its not relevant to this post. 5.

., cast iron plumbing, old electrical work, inside walls are not sheet rock, they are plaster, etc.).

The purpose of the Refi is to get you ALL your Deposit back (for the "Repeat")!

Ironically, over 24 years. #1 said (for his tax reasons) the payment needs to be $425.

Obviously, different markets produce different cap rates...and different investors are willing to accept different rates of return, making any given property worth more or less to different investors.You do not include debt service when calculating cap rate, because the purpose to the cap rate is to compare different properties, or different asset classes (i.e. should I buy a rental property, stocks, bonds, gold, or whatever?).

It takes more than money to be a continued financial success in the real estate business.The Hard Way – Start from the bottom and learn the business – study neighborhoods – attend auctions (don’t bid, just observe.Take courses – but be very selected – don’t over pay – don’t chase the Get Rich Fast programs from Fast Talking Know Nothing Promoters – most of them are trashGet in the field – drive around – farm – talk to neighbors – get listings – call FSBO’s, have agents keep you informed of trends and off market properties – train a real estate buyer’s agentLearn to make offers – but first you need to know what to make offers on, you must understand clauses and contracts – you need to know and understand every word and what that word will do for you or how it can hurt you – my clients are trained to use a contract form we call a Skinny Contract – it is a one page document – it has the address – the offer – and clauses that allow you to sandwich yourself in for an assignment fee and most importantly – full disclosures and what happens if you cannot settle – Set goals ----yep – sound silly, but it works – set a goal to look at 50 properties – My clients call this the 50 house rule – select an area – make appointments with FSBO’s and agents – keep a journal, write down everything about the property especially the cost per square foot, financials, the owner and the building – look at 50 properties – but don’t make offers – just look and study the market – A doctor will studies for years, watches others doctors slice open patients and after many years he has a chance to be a real doctor who has learned to heal people – study your potential profession and work as hard as a doctor would – expose yourself to experience – your job is to know your market better than anyone – it takes a medical student many years to reach their potential – you can earn as you learn without spending years in the process.Working the 50 house rule – don’t make offers on any of them – just keep looking.The purpose of the 50 house Rule is to know every detail about properties on the market, the expired listing market, the tax sale market, the HUD market as well as the market at the court house steps.

Still trying to iron out how that is going to work out.Hope That Helps,Robert

Since this is not for lending purposes (yet), the same "insulating" rules don't apply.