The market is always evolving and Mark is on the Front Lines along with his students.I felt an instant connection to Mark, he truly is concerned about his student's success, not just selling training material.I found Mark's community to be incredible. 

This is a good idea and should be done during due diligence after you have the property under contract.There are some contractors that just work with investors and efficiently get the work done on fixer-uppers or flips in a timely and cost effective way.They may charge you for the estimate which is credited to any work you have done.A general contractor is not a replacement for a quality home inspector and the home inspector may find additional work that needs to be done so good to have them there on the same day if possible.Both results and estimates are useful in retrading or renegotiating after the due diligence.To your success!

The best way to get started with today's market in my opinion is doing a live in househack/brrrr. 

Ana,Based on experience and this market me personally I would avoid a HELOC for a few reasons.

It's fantastic that you have clear long-term goals to build your real estate empire and achieve financial independence.Wishing you a successful and fulfilling real estate journey!

Whether is taking his "course", paying for the self written articles about his success or aka writing "puff pieces", buying fake Instagram followers, sitting on FB marketplace trying to get someone to pay for a house they don't know is condemnable and pay to have DJ remodel it and DJ never completing the remodel,  him spending an enormous time defending himself in small claims court, and threatening charges on  people that don't know law so they pay what he wants.All of those examples came from either my observation, experience, or other peoples reviews of him.The guy rented me a condemnable property.

Thanks Matt, yes I raise rents every Jan 1st 10% but she'll still be at least $400 under market rent even after this coming Jan 1st.

On the flip side, you get market appreciation if you keep the house.  

@Justin Arcelaschi Keep analyzing deals everyday and eventually a 2-4 unit will come available in a market you’re willing to live in.

It's a duplex that I'll be house hacking.Outside of real estate, I enjoy almost ANYTHING outdoors, when indoors I love movies and board games, I'm dedicated to my volunteer ministry, and I've become fluent in Russian (learning Ukrainian).I also run my own SEO, marketing and web design agency, which I am PASSIONATE about!