I stayed at a fairly new Springhill Suites in Denver a few weeks ago and being in this business, I always take note of the fixtures.  The bathroom walls were done in what looked like tile, but cop a quick feel and you...

I walked the unit and in the bedroom has a massage table and no bed.

Do you suggest using acrylic showers/tubs or porcelain over steel?

I even saw a listing that said you can have an in-room massage!  

You need to massage your criteria a little bit to get in the game while pricing is good and debt is cheap.

The last thing I need to do as a first time investor is massage the #s to get a house and end up losing money or doing it for free...I will hang and there and keep making offers...I'm going to try to get my real estate license in the next few months so I can start viewing houses on my own time and getting access to the MLS to streamline the process...Right now I wait on input on recent comparable sales, wait to view the property and wait to make the offer...it just takes too much time...I feel if I was an agent I would be viewing 15+ homes a week and making several offers per week.

These are both extremely useful sites as the state site can forward you to numerous places like the dbpr (department of business and professional regulations) where you can do professional license searches, (for example, a great place for locating a seller that has a professional license, i.e. a massage therapist or a hair stylist, or a real estate agent, they all would be listed here)  You can also find the link to your Secretary of State, also a great place to skip trace if your seller/buyer is an investor or biz owner.  

Assuage (and at times massage) your wife of REI.

Our best workers become part of our "team" and we let them know we value them by speaking highly of them, complementing their work, and treating them to lunch, or tickets to a show, or even paying for a professional massage or trip to the dentist from time to time.

Five sets of loan docs to sign, I strongly suggest you bring coffee to the closing table, and some sort of hand massaging device as well!