Saar you're on the right track. 

He got his December rent current (albeit 40 days) and got half of his Jan rent on track.

I would consider partnering with someone with a great track record.

I just had a property manager that I fired three years ago track me down because a former tenant came in to pay off the judgment she got after having to evict him.

When you get a track record, you won't have a money problems.

The second is that there are a lot of soft costs that should be tracked, even if you are performing the function yourself for 'free': Financing cost, marketing, sales, overhead and of course profit.

Personally, I wouldn't make a loan unless it was secured by a NOO property, to an entity, with a affidavit as to the business use of the money, and, only to a borrower that had a solid business track record with that type of loan.

As long as it's south of the RR tracks and west of James/Stelzer, I say it's probably a good buy.

People who are poor with money don't keep track.

I still don't have a perfect script either, seeing as I haven't tested a bunch of techniques, but I think reading this:http://www.amazon.com/Buying-Real-Estate-Without-Credit/dp/0471728314should get you on the right track.