@Daniel Hanson Thank you for your thorough list on how to proceed!

I've seen many great buy in the Houston area but having a hard time finding loans that allow a flip.Tthe homes are in need of numerous repairs and do not qualify for investments loans through banks.How does one proceed?

I may be selling a rental property in NJ and use the proceeds to buy 2 or more properties in another state.

I would tell them that you will have the leak looked in to, and based on the results of your expert will proceed with necessary repairs.  

I´m 25 years old, originally from Mexico City, but living in Columbus Ohio since 2016 due to a job relocation.I have a bachelor's degree in systems engineering and a MBA.Currently working a full time job on a supply chain company in Columbus, Ohio.Actively looking to learn and start investing on Real Estate in order to get an early retirement (stop working for a company and spend my time and money on my own business).I have very basic real estate experience at the moment.I guess as many of you I started a couple of years ago with "Rich dad poor dad" and from there I have been trying to run out from the rat race.On November 2016 I attended one of this guru weekend workshops and taking out the fact that they try to sell you a "magic formula" to get rich with just little effort and paying them 50K, I think it was a good introduction to what real estate investing is, get to know some vocabulary and a better idea of how the business works.After attending to the workshop I decided to research a little bit more about RE and I found this awesome site called BiggerPockets, in which I have found a lot of interesting forums, webinars and podcasts.My real estate goals at the moment look like these...2017 - Learn as much as possible about real estate market on my area, raising money and exit strategies.2018 - Have a detalied real state business plan and do my first investment.2019 and beyond - Spend a big amount of time and money working to get a monthly income of 5K on real estate investments.I´m currently looking for a mentor to guide my real estate experience on the greater Columbus area.My main interest at the moment is the buy and hold strategy, so most likely I would like to connect with people already making some money of rental properties, but I´m always open to learn different strategies.In reward, my mentor will get my commitment of about 10 to 15 hours a week of hard work on helping get and analyze deals by performing some time consuming tasks that could be delegated to me so I can learn about the business while I help someone else grow your business.

Option 1: Do I take all of my excess cash flow (which I don't need) and pay down the debt as fast as possible - with the intention of refinancing, using the proceeds to purchase other income properties.Option 2: Save all of my cash flow to combine with my other savings to fund another down payment and just do this as quickly as possible (while still keeping a reserve for disaster etc..) 

The Home Must Be Owned for a Total of at Least Two Years During the Five-Year Period Leading Up to the SaleIn order to legally shelter the proceeds received from the sale of one’s home, a taxpayer must own the home for an aggregate of two years prior to the sale.

Rent increases every year are capped by consumer price index.

I don't mind being present during showings to vet the prospect because the time consumed is considerably a lot and only a few will actually be really interested.

More accurate question is:  "Will this offer amount result in the net proceeds at closing required by the lender?"