Base rent should be used against the note and all other expenses should be covered by the tenant in NNN leases.

I obtained quotes for "builder's risk" coverage to cover the property while it is vacant and under rennovation.  

Just know many hard money lenders do require you to have some money to put down and they cover the rest.

We'll be covering: How to get the funding for your first few deals... even if you don't have much cashThree actionable strategies for finding great deals hiding in plain sightThe simple 15-minute step-by-step process you need to focus on NOWPlus a lot more!

Put your tenants in motel if insurance covers it.

In Oakland, if an owner moves into a property, and that property is 3 units or fewer, then after 2 years of the owner living in one of the units, the property is no longer subject to rent control and all rents can be adjusted to market rate. 

If they have plenty of money in the bank (enough to cover several months of rent), and good records on paying their rent (always check rental history), again ask for extra security deposit.

I would say read some of the BP books as they cover pretty much all aspects of real estate investing.

The basic goals are:  1)  Cash flow/month to cover monthly bills; 2)  Profit to pay off personal debt.Once these Financial Goals are established, you can then "reverse engineer" your plan from these goals back to your current situation. 

Because if you have a buyers agent.....and the listing agent is discussing the properties with you, and they know you have an agent...they subject themselves to the possibility that your agent will file an ethics complaint against them.