It might be me but I think it is ridiculous when I hear news that the market will start to improve the end of the first quarter of 08.

In Mass it's actually a law that you cannot accept more than 33% of the contract as a deposit if you're a home improvement contractor.Good call with the required W-9 and the insurance certificates before they start any physical work.

There's a property I've had my eye on in a working class neighborhood (residents upkeep yards, partake in home improvements, plenty of small children playing outside).

This would be a scenario where I pick up a multifamily, my rehabs won't fall into this category.Right now he will give me up to 80% of ARV on my rehabs, but I have decided not to leverage my new acquisitions that hard anymore so I can start improving cash flow.My goals have changed a bit and I now want all of my new properties to cash flow at least $300/month.

What @Brian Gibbons said...SLO's and sub-2's are fine, but you need to know the market and have the players in place such as ...contractorsattorney/eviction peoplepayment processingmortgage peoplecredit improvement specialistand...knowledge of the market area/market rent and market values.

The results have been efficiency improvements from just under 50% to over 70% ... generally the older the building, the bigger the improvement.We live in a place that has *real* winter and our tenants benefit from the work done to their homes.

But I have a once bitten, twice shy attitude because I graduated from undergrad in 2008 hoping to go into finance, and was forced to work selling shoes for 2 years due to the lack of jobs...I'm sure the economy has improved slightly but it scares the hell out of me...I never want to go back to that.And then there's the issue that going back into this field would essentially kill me on the inside...I don't want to work in an office ever again.

If rents were to increase and cash flow were to improve I think you would see a huge increase in demand for those high end high rise condos.

My strategy is buy low, improve, and hold to rent; eventually sell for long term capital gain and reinvest all proceeds.

the more months going back that show improvement, the better their chances are of staying on track for paying their obligations.