All Forum Posts by: Costin I.

The W2-RE Investing is here to provide networking and information for those who are looking to get into the world of Real Estate Investing as well as a place for networking and sharing with more seasoned real estate investors looking to partner or just discuss the local North Austin real estate scene.

We are NOT about pitch-fests where you are being asked to buy into some new Guru's video training series and classes - this is not the TV Reality Show version, but the real life version, with the good, the bad and the ugly of real estate investing, investment properties and property management. This is the Tortoise story, the slow and steady investing and wealth generation, and not about the get rich quick schemes, one time lucky deal, or replacing a W2 job with another job (flipping). We ARE about networking, sharing ideas and learning from each other.

We look forward to networking with you soon at the next meetup! Meet fellow investors who are dealing with the same issues you are. Come with an open mind and be prepared to learn!

See you soon! Bring a friend and don't forget to RSVP!

@Quest IRA, Inc - 100 E Anderson Ln #100 - Austin, Texas 78752 - Every 3rd Thu of the month @ 6:30pm

[Round Rock, Leander, Austin]

@Levi Crabtree - make sure you have exhausted all other means of mitigating risk and have substantial equity and/or cash flow to protect, before looking into more expensive and convoluted asset protection structures. Here are some diagrams to help you in this quest for answers:

@Kevin Romero - Here is my "starting up" collection:

Read ideal-vs-desperate-investor (http://greeneincome.com/index.php/2018/10/29/ideal-vs-desperate-investor/)
Read Dave Ramsey book "The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness." and complete the baby steps there.
Read Scott Trench’s book “Set for Life.”
Finish the school and get your degree - you'll need it later, especially if it's business management.
Get a job first where you have W2 income. Save 50 percent after tax income. Find deals in your market. Buy at discounted prices. Rehab. Rent. Refinance. Repeat.
Work slave job with W-2 documentation for 2 years to gain favor with banks. Freddy/Fannie conventional loans want to see those 2 years. Keep same job no matter how crappy. It's only a stepping stone to break free.
While you are slaving, eat ramen, roommate up or live in trailer, avoid Starbucks and tuck every dollar you can squeeze out into a bank account. need 20% down and money for materials. so for 80K home (trashed), you will want 35K banked to get started, just a rough idea.
Then, get pre-approved. Buy property. Buy another and another until you have enough equity to refinance one for large amount of cash. Take cash and start BRRRRR process (read up all you can on BRRRRR). Give boss notice. (sorry about all the school time you invested). Your free. Done.
Find a mentor to help with the process.
Doing an internship with someone that is serious about their business, and then making sure that you're just as serious about their business as they are, is an awesome way to gain invaluable experience and support for yourself in the long run.
Intern with a flipper. Intern with a wholesaler. Intern with Rental Investor. Then decide what you want to do long term. You have a long journey ahead.
Aggressively save money and buy a Multifamily 2-4 units with 3.5% FHA loan and house hack. Find a duplex/triplex that needs a little work, live in one unit rent out the rest. Raise the rents to market values and rehab to force equity and sell in 2 years to avoid capital gains. If you decide to keep the property you can refinance into a conventional loan and hopefully you have enough equity to eliminate the PMI/MIP. Then move out and repeat the process. Repeat. Do this four or five times and you'll never have to work again if you choose. [Beware = https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/house-hacking-drawbacks/]
I would look for a 2-4 unit too house hack. You can get into these with 3.5% down for an owner occupied FHA loan. Great way to get started FHA makes sure its a cash flowing deal before they allow you to buy. And house hacking allows you to make a little off the property, and seriously subsidize your rent. And lastly, you gotta live like a college kid. Rent out rooms, go the cheap route. Having those cheap expenses will really catapult you forward financially!
Income from RE investing is slow and boring (in a good way). The RE investing that makes fast money is not really “investing” - it’s a self-employed RE business. For example, flipping, deal finding, wholesaling, syndicating.
Boosting your credit score is the no-brainer investment. Go on My Fico and learn the credit hacks. Do them!!!
[Biggerpockets] is notorious for the no and no money down niche, but you really need to have a good financial runway prior to investing otherwise you will lose your bottom when it goes sideways.
Read all the usual books. But to be honest with you, If you do not learn some construction skills, your progress will be a lot slower as contractors will be raking in the majority of your profits.
Get a pro account on this site so you can access the PRO only blogs and avoid all the goofy stuff that can confuse you sometimes.
Take NO advice from salesmen such as realtors/brokers. Not because they are wrong, but because they are salesmen.
Take NO advice from anyone who does not own more real estate than you do. Why chance it.
Just keep reading, saving, researching your target area. Know the rents! Know the values.
Do all this and you'll be on a very good path. Just remember, there are no secrets and shortcuts in real estate investing, just slow and steady progress. You want fast, you are closer to speculating than investing and your risk skyrockets​.
"Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is power, but also a burden, leading to analysis paralysis. The cure to both - the 4 ions: education, action, progress(ion), not perfection".

Learn to use BP to its whole potential:
Subscribe to BP blog and podcasts and start reading posts and listening to their podcasts collection.
Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/m...
Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/a...
Read Beginner’s Guide: Real-estate-investing (http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing)
+ Actionable-steps-to- reach-investing-goals (https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/12/17/actionable-steps-reach-investing-goals)

You can find a glossary of some acronyms here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

You might also want to read: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide - https://assets2.biggerpockets....
...actually the entire section on Guides - https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

BP has a whole section dedicated to education and starting up - https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Get busy with the entire Education section on BP:
property-types (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/property-types)
finance (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/finance)
strategy (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/strategy)
analyze-deals (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/finding-deals/analyze-deals)
property-management (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/property-management) (including TENANTS MAINTENANCE)
business-operations (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/business-operations) (and the sub section on REAL ESTATE MARKETING TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY TAXES & ACCOUNTING LEGAL TEAM)

One way or another you will pay your "real estate tuition" - either in time, effort or money. My suggestion - better in time and effort, and money (through the mistakes you going to make), than paying a guru.

Between BP and books and all the other podcasts and blogs available for free, you shouldn't need any paid training - don't fall for that. Just find a good mentor to shadow, someone willing to impart from his/her experience, take them to lunch and make yourself useful to them, and they will teach you.

Here some recent articles good for starters:
- one to raise you up: 3-important-questions-starting-investing-real-estate https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- one to bring you back down to earth: dont-just-dabble-in-real-estate-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- one in the middle: cheap-free-steps-today-pro https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 10-lethal-mistakes-avoid-real-estate-investment https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- telltale-signs-youre-not-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- vital-importance-mentor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- get-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- get-your-head-in-the-game https://royallegalsolutions.co...

You might want to read and follow these threads:
advice-to-your-20-year-old-self https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
financial-advise-for-getting-started https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
how-to-prepare-for-a-career-as-a-flipper https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
new-to-wholesale-real-estate https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
what-is-the-best-re-related-9-to-5-job https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Bonus for the weekend, my collection for starters (read the comments too, and then if you like the author, go check out what else they wrote):
- stages-of-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- newbies-learn-real-estate-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 5-ways-to-know-youre-not-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- ideal-vs-desperate-investor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- how-much-to-offer-property https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- hazardous-attitudes-of-investors https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 21-traits-scammy-real-estate-investment-guru https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- youre-not-cut-out-to-be-real-estate-investor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- questions-new-investors-should-ask https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- real-estate-books-beginner-investors https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- what-separates-those-who-succeed-from-those-who-fail https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

If that's not enough, ping me and I'll give you a whole collection of blogs and podcasts to follow.

Bonus 2:
1) Read at least one hour per day every single day.
2) Remember the quote by Jim Rohn "You are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with."
3) Check for toilet paper before sitting down.

@Justin Moore - Here is my "starting up" collection:

Read ideal-vs-desperate-investor (http://greeneincome.com/index.php/2018/10/29/ideal-vs-desperate-investor/)
Read Dave Ramsey book "The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness." and complete the baby steps there.
Read Scott Trench’s book “Set for Life.”
Finish the school and get your degree - you'll need it later, especially if it's business management.
Get a job first where you have W2 income. Save 50 percent after tax income. Find deals in your market. Buy at discounted prices. Rehab. Rent. Refinance. Repeat.
Work slave job with W-2 documentation for 2 years to gain favor with banks. Freddy/Fannie conventional loans want to see those 2 years. Keep same job no matter how crappy. It's only a stepping stone to break free.
While you are slaving, eat ramen, roommate up or live in trailer, avoid Starbucks and tuck every dollar you can squeeze out into a bank account. need 20% down and money for materials. so for 80K home (trashed), you will want 35K banked to get started, just a rough idea.
Then, get pre-approved. Buy property. Buy another and another until you have enough equity to refinance one for large amount of cash. Take cash and start BRRRRR process (read up all you can on BRRRRR). Give boss notice. (sorry about all the school time you invested). Your free. Done.
Find a mentor to help with the process.
Doing an internship with someone that is serious about their business, and then making sure that you're just as serious about their business as they are, is an awesome way to gain invaluable experience and support for yourself in the long run.
Intern with a flipper. Intern with a wholesaler. Intern with Rental Investor. Then decide what you want to do long term. You have a long journey ahead.
Aggressively save money and buy a Multifamily 2-4 units with 3.5% FHA loan and house hack. Find a duplex/triplex that needs a little work, live in one unit rent out the rest. Raise the rents to market values and rehab to force equity and sell in 2 years to avoid capital gains. If you decide to keep the property you can refinance into a conventional loan and hopefully you have enough equity to eliminate the PMI/MIP. Then move out and repeat the process. Repeat. Do this four or five times and you'll never have to work again if you choose. [Beware = https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/house-hacking-drawbacks/]
I would look for a 2-4 unit too house hack. You can get into these with 3.5% down for an owner occupied FHA loan. Great way to get started FHA makes sure its a cash flowing deal before they allow you to buy. And house hacking allows you to make a little off the property, and seriously subsidize your rent. And lastly, you gotta live like a college kid. Rent out rooms, go the cheap route. Having those cheap expenses will really catapult you forward financially!
Income from RE investing is slow and boring (in a good way). The RE investing that makes fast money is not really “investing” - it’s a self-employed RE business. For example, flipping, deal finding, wholesaling, syndicating.
Boosting your credit score is the no-brainer investment. Go on My Fico and learn the credit hacks. Do them!!!
[Biggerpockets] is notorious for the no and no money down niche, but you really need to have a good financial runway prior to investing otherwise you will lose your bottom when it goes sideways.
Read all the usual books. But to be honest with you, If you do not learn some construction skills, your progress will be a lot slower as contractors will be raking in the majority of your profits.
Get a pro account on this site so you can access the PRO only blogs and avoid all the goofy stuff that can confuse you sometimes.
Take NO advice from salesmen such as realtors/brokers. Not because they are wrong, but because they are salesmen.
Take NO advice from anyone who does not own more real estate than you do. Why chance it.
Just keep reading, saving, researching your target area. Know the rents! Know the values.
Do all this and you'll be on a very good path. Just remember, there are no secrets and shortcuts in real estate investing, just slow and steady progress. You want fast, you are closer to speculating than investing and your risk skyrockets​.
"Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is power, but also a burden, leading to analysis paralysis. The cure to both - the 4 ions: education, action, progress(ion), not perfection".

Learn to use BP to its whole potential:
Subscribe to BP blog and podcasts and start reading posts and listening to their podcasts collection.
Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/m...
Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/a...
Read Beginner’s Guide: Real-estate-investing (http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing)
+ Actionable-steps-to- reach-investing-goals (https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/12/17/actionable-steps-reach-investing-goals)

You can find a glossary of some acronyms here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

You might also want to read: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide - https://assets2.biggerpockets....
...actually the entire section on Guides - https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

BP has a whole section dedicated to education and starting up - https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Get busy with the entire Education section on BP:
property-types (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/property-types)
finance (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/finance)
strategy (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/strategy)
analyze-deals (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/finding-deals/analyze-deals)
property-management (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/property-management) (including TENANTS MAINTENANCE)
business-operations (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/business-operations) (and the sub section on REAL ESTATE MARKETING TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY TAXES & ACCOUNTING LEGAL TEAM)

One way or another you will pay your "real estate tuition" - either in time, effort or money. My suggestion - better in time and effort, and money (through the mistakes you going to make), than paying a guru.

Between BP and books and all the other podcasts and blogs available for free, you shouldn't need any paid training - don't fall for that. Just find a good mentor to shadow, someone willing to impart from his/her experience, take them to lunch and make yourself useful to them, and they will teach you.

Here some recent articles good for starters:
- one to raise you up: 3-important-questions-starting-investing-real-estate https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- one to bring you back down to earth: dont-just-dabble-in-real-estate-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- one in the middle: cheap-free-steps-today-pro https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 10-lethal-mistakes-avoid-real-estate-investment https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- telltale-signs-youre-not-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- vital-importance-mentor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- get-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- get-your-head-in-the-game https://royallegalsolutions.co...

You might want to read and follow these threads:
advice-to-your-20-year-old-self https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
financial-advise-for-getting-started https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
how-to-prepare-for-a-career-as-a-flipper https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
new-to-wholesale-real-estate https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
what-is-the-best-re-related-9-to-5-job https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Bonus for the weekend, my collection for starters (read the comments too, and then if you like the author, go check out what else they wrote):
- stages-of-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- newbies-learn-real-estate-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 5-ways-to-know-youre-not-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- ideal-vs-desperate-investor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- how-much-to-offer-property https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- hazardous-attitudes-of-investors https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 21-traits-scammy-real-estate-investment-guru https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- youre-not-cut-out-to-be-real-estate-investor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- questions-new-investors-should-ask https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- real-estate-books-beginner-investors https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- what-separates-those-who-succeed-from-those-who-fail https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

If that's not enough, ping me and I'll give you a whole collection of blogs and podcasts to follow.

Bonus 2:
1) Read at least one hour per day every single day.
2) Remember the quote by Jim Rohn "You are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with."
3) Check for toilet paper before sitting down.

@James Mcsweeney - just be aware, ​There is more to foundation repairs than just the foundation. Here is what I collected as "warnings" or lessons (from various sources and some experienced myself) about foundation problems and/or repairs:

1. If you have brick on the exterior, you might have to do tuckpointing. $$$

2. If you have tiles inside, the tiles will crack. And if they have to drill holes for interior piers, you pretty much will have to replace the entire flooring. $$$$

3. You'll have drywall cracks, so you should factor in drywall repairs and repainting. $$$

4. If the doors were adjusted to a crooked foundation, you might need to readjust or even buy new doors. $$$

5. A hydrostatic plumbing test is recommended to be performed by a licensed plumber post Foundation work. Plumbing leaks may void warranty. Old houses have cast iron pipers that will disintegrate (because of age and/or foundation shift). You'll have to replace all plumbing at that point. $$$$

6. Depending on how bad is the foundation state (how many inches you have to correct), is very possible the sewer line will disconnect/break in the horizontal portions. Repairing that requires tunneling, a repair that could be very expensive. $$$$

7. If the driveway- garage differential is big (for example, the driveway slab is sunken and you need to raise the house, you'll end up with an even bigger gap after repair) you might need to replace the driveway. $$$$

8. If you are dealing with an addition built on 12" beams (or if the original foundation is old and not built to current standards), the repair company might not be able to push the piers down to refusal depth or psi due to the beam not taking the load, thus leveling it, but not guaranteeing it will not continue to move in the future, thus not providing warranty.

9. The owner may be required to provide a structural engineers evaluation prior to warranty work.

10. Read the fine print in the foundation repair contract: Damages to the property, interior and exterior as a result of the foundation movement are not covered, during and after works completion. This usually includes but is not limited to PLUMBING, flooring, landscape, utility lines and masonry. The foundation repair does not cover any repairs that may be needed to the home during and after works completion. And you'll have new cracks in unexpected places, old cracks that will not close, but instead enlarge. My suggestion is to add at least 25% to the cost of the foundation repair as mitigation to the problems that will come from the foundation repair.

11. The foundation repair company salespeople (and even owners, in some case) of structure companies are not engineers and though they may be right most of the time, there will be gaps in their assumptions. Unless it's a small job with an obvious solution, get an engineer ($250+) to look at it and sketch up a scope of work for a contractor to do.

12. Many foundation problems have water as a root cause - be that infiltration in a crawl space, drainage around the site, cracked sewer line or water line. Before solving the foundation you might want to get to the root cause of the foundation issue and resolve it, otherwise you might repair the foundation for nothing.

13. If you repair the foundation on only select places, don't be surprised if the other sides will suddenly start "working". If the house is stabilized on one side, you might get cracks in the other side soon after. In other words, if you do a foundation repair, it's better to get the whole house stabilized and the warranty for the whole house.

If anyone has more experience with any of these, please correct me if mistaken.

@Tyler Sample - you should have something to protect before complicating yourself with the cost and maintenance of asset protection structures. If you don't have major personal assets, lots of equity and/or cash flow, you might want to concentrate first on acquiring said assets and developing the wealth worth protecting.

The 20% tax write off applies to pass-through and regular LLCs, as long as you meet the conditions required for it (contemporaneously documented number of active participation hours in the required business activities). You don't want to hold assets into an S-Corp - Owning Rentals in an S Corporation Might Be a Costly Mistake.

If you do flipping or property management and have active income, that's when you might want that into an S-Corp.

Here some diagrams to help you in your quest for answers:

Come to our events if you want to meet people and learn more.

Look at this shiny object!

As a society and as individuals, we have developed very short attention spans. We can’t seem to focus on anything very long, and are distracted by every shiny object that flashes across our peripheral vision.

Real estate investing is a long term proposition. Although you can make a lot of money in REI, and you can make it more quickly than some other investments, it still takes months or years to see cash in the bank. Consequently, when someone tells us about some ‘new' method of investing that promises to increase our return we quickly turn our attention from our mundane daily tasks to the latest fad.

More often than not, we find these fads actually involve so much more risk, cost, time, and labor than initially advertised that they are not worth our effort. We spend our treasure – especially our time and attention – on them, but see little or no return. Some may not work at all, because they are not really proven or run into regulatory hurdles soon after inception.

Sadly, the biggest result of chasing shiny objects is that it takes time away from the ‘slow and steady’ track that really produces results. While we play the part of the hare, the tortoises around us carefully pick up the best deals and methodically milk the cash cows.

It may not be as flashy and exciting, but I prefer to stick to a few basic methods that are proven to work consistently. My favorites are those strategies that require little investment, and can be set on autopilot and almost ignored for years at a time while they generate equity and cash flow on a predictable monthly basis.

My recommendation: take time to learn two or three basic strategies well, and stick with them. The fewer variables, the less chance of problems. Stick to the basics, because a simple plan is much easier to execute than a complex one.

In the W2 REI Meetup this week (Thursday, 6:30 PM at Quest Trust Company), Bill Crider will talk about one of the most basic strategies, Buy and Hold rentals in middle class neighborhoods. What I will outline does not take any special knowledge or skills, or even buying at a deep discount. I will share a case study of an actual house I bought 5 years ago and what it has done over the last 5 years. You will see results that YOU can get in central Texas today.

@Jennifer Gligoric I was told by many real estate and asset protection lawyers that land trusts do NOT offer any liability protection. They only offer a layer of anonymity, that in the case of a lawsuit filed reaching discovery phase, it will become transparent and as such it has to be paired with a legal entity (an LLC) for liability protection. In other words, the land trust hides the owner and what else the owner owns, thus making the visible target on your back smaller, but it doesn't provide liability/asset protection. Care to comment on this?

And can you compare the DST vs LLC, please?

@Tracey Leung There is more to foundation repairs than just the foundation. Here is what I collected as "warnings" or lessons (from various sources and some experienced myself) about foundation problems and/or repairs:

1. If you have brick on the exterior, you might have to do tuck pointing. $$$

2. If you have tiles inside, the tiles will crack. And if they have to drill holes for interior piers, you pretty much will have to replace the entire flooring. $$$$

3. You'll have drywall cracks, so you should factor in drywall repairs and repainting. $$$

4. If the doors were adjusted to a crooked foundation, you might need to readjust or even buy new doors. $$$

5. A hydrostatic plumbing test is recommended to be performed by a licensed plumber post Foundation work. Plumbing leaks may void warranty. Old houses have cast iron pipers that will disintegrate (because of age and/or foundation shift). You'll have to replace all plumbing at that point. $$$$

6. Depending on how bad is the foundation state (how many inches you have to correct), is very possible the sewer line will disconnect/break in the horizontal portions. Repairing that requires tunneling, a repair that could be very expensive. $$$$

7. If the driveway- garage differential is big (for example, the driveway slab is sunken and you need to raise the house, you'll end up with an even bigger gap after repair) you might need to replace the driveway. $$$$

8. If you are dealing with an addition built on 12" beams (or if the original foundation is old and not built to current standards), the repair company might not be able to push the piers down to refusal depth or psi due to the beam not taking the load, thus leveling it, but not guaranteeing it will not continue to move in the future, thus not providing warranty.

9. The owner may be required to provide a structural engineers evaluation prior to warranty work.

10. Read the fine print in the foundation repair contract: Damages to the property, interior and exterior as a result of the foundation movement are not covered, during and after works completion. This usually includes but is not limited to PLUMBING, flooring, landscape, utility lines and masonry. The foundation repair does not cover any repairs that may be needed to the home during and after works completion. And you'll have new cracks in unexpected places, old cracks that will not close, but instead enlarge. My suggestion is to add at least 25% to the cost of the foundation repair as mitigation to the problems that will come from the foundation repair.

11. The foundation repair company salespeople (and even owners, in some case) of structure companies are not engineers and though they may be right most of the time, there will be gaps in their assumptions. Unless it's a small job with an obvious solution, get an engineer ($250+) to look at it and sketch up a scope of work for a contractor to do.

12. Many foundation problems have water as a root cause - be that infiltration in a crawl space, drainage around the site, cracked sewer line or water line. Before solving the foundation you might want to get to the root cause of the foundation issue and resolve it, otherwise you might repair the foundation for nothing.

13. If you repair the foundation on only select places, don't be surprised if the other sides will suddenly start "working". If the house is stabilized on one side, you might get cracks in the other side soon after. In other words, if you do a foundation repair, it's better to get the whole house stabilized and the warranty for the whole house.

@Sarah Klein - you can't ask about cash flow without defining what constitutes cash flow and how is calculated (or you can't expect to receive consistent answers). Some folks consider they cash flow if the rental income covers the PITI. Others add the property management in it, while others self-manage and don't include anything for property management (although their time and effort has cost/value). Personally, I consider cash flow what remains in my pocket after ALL expenses. And IMHO, currently in Austin you can't cash flow on a long-term SFH rental without putting 30-40% down payment (or finding properties well under FMV, that even after rehab will still be 20% under ARV, plus what you have to leave as DP for the mortgage, again an effective 30-40% DP - and if you are not able to find them and BRRRR, and have to pay that 30-40%, your cash on cash ROI will be under 2% similar with just leaving the money risk free in a saving account).

Here is what I account as expenses for a correct calculation of cash flow:
1) Mortgage
2) Mortgage insurance (PMI or MIP) or FHA Risk base
3) Property Taxes
4) City Taxes
5) HOA (Home Owner's Association) Dues and Fees and Assessments
6) Insurance
  a) Property Hazard Insurance (0.3-0.45%)
  b) Flood Insurance
  c) Earthquake Insurance
  d) Umbrella Insurance
7) Vacancy Rate (usually 8% - the equivalent to one month a year, or 5-6% if multifamily and/or if experienced, if not use 8%)
8) Utilities (you’ll have these if your tenant is not covering them and/or during vacancy)
  a) Water § Sewer § Garbage
  b) Electricity
  c) Natural Gas
  d) Propane
9) General Maintenance (usually 5%)
  a) Upkeep § Landscaping
  b) Snow removal
  c) Repairs
  d) New Appliances
  e) Make ready
10) Capital Expenditures (usually 5%, higher is the property is old and obsolete, less if fully rehabbed and all mechanicals and roof are new)
11) Property Management (8%, even if you self manage, your time still has value and there might be a time when you'll want to be completely hands off or you'll not be able to do it, vacation, retirement, etc.), including...
  a) Office Supplies (e.g. stamps, envelopes)
  b) Software
  c) Gas/Mileage
  d) Advertising + Payroll
  e) Concessions
  f) Lease loss
  g) Lease renewal fees
12) Lawyer/Law office/Legal fees
13) Accounting/Bookkeeping/CPA/Tax preparer/Tax advisor

If after including all these expenses, I manage to get $100/door, I call it good. Anything above is creme.

But then, I guess, it depends on your strategy and goals. If you are looking for a place to park money from inflation, then any decent real estate is good, especially if income producing to break even. If you are counting on market appreciation, future rent increases, short term holding, or a combination, then you are speculating, not investing in RE. Different from a passive income long term wealth generation, financial independence type of path.