Becoming a real estate investor has its up and downs, it's risks and rewards, and of course the potential of living a life where I have the opportunity of owning my time and energy; by this I mean, eventually I will not be working a 9 to 5 job where I am constantly following repetitive task day in and out, and where I do not have the freedom to express my self and creativity.

The work doesn't have to be showroom perfect and I'm always amazed at the equity that can be created by making necessary improvements without paying retail.

His brother's response was something akin to, unless putting wood windows in my house means I'll get $100K more for it when I sell, then we're going with vinyl.When it comes to energy efficiency, I find that folks often only look at whether or not a product is Energy Star rated.  

For the time, energy and money it will take to do SP, you might as well do LLC.

They could learn that FHA will finance up to 4 units, get all their income documentation in place, get their credit score improved to the proper level, get the seller to do the required repairs, get funds properly gifted for their down payment, contest a bad appraisal and get it revised, and think their good to go......then they find out that while FHA finances up to 4 units, they have to be owner occupied, and the buyer can't do that so the deal is dead and all the work was for nothing.

Low initial investment that I can make some minor improvements to and rent without feeling like I have a ton of money tied up into it.Wilson, Yes the taxes are really high.  

Then I pull in the energy and water cost to run the building too, which puts me right around the 50% rule I suppose.  

I am researching flipping market and i can divide it on 3 segments:1. rehab - when someone gets ugly or under condition house, puts a small money to get condition shortly and sale it as soon as possible - a small profit, high dependence on purchase price. in this case we earn on buying.2. improvement - getting old or cheap house, puts more money to get more expensive house which we can sale for high price and get more profit. in this case we earn on buying and improvement to get highest price among around houses in that location3. re-building or building new one - when we destroy old and build new house. in this case we earn more profit when get something absolutely new with highest price.

I pick up the benefit of improving the property, the year-end tax write-off, and the tenants feel they're appreciated that I listened to their needs and addressed them. 

The property is in average quality due to some recent capex improvements.