It checked all the boxes for a strong fix and flip opportunity.How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Over the years, I’ve noticed something interesting working with investors:The biggest tax mistakes usually don’t come from shady strategies or bad CPAs…They come from poor recordkeeping and timing.Here’s what I mean A lot of investors don’t track which expenses are repairs (deduct now) and which are improvements (depreciate later).They toss all the receipts into a box or an app and hope it sorts itself out in March.Then when tax season hits, they realize half of those costs could’ve been handled differently — maybe deducted sooner or even structured better if they’d planned a few months ahead.The IRS doesn’t just care what you spent… it cares how you report it.

If they don’t have bank accounts, the simplest solution is usually having them mail the money order to you or to a P.O. box you set up, and then you just record the payment in Innago manually.

Next step: pick one submarket, define your deal box, analyze a few deals daily, and write consistent offers that fit it.

Since you sit inside deal flow, build a tight buy box and a fast “noise‑to‑numbers” screen: price per door vs rent, quick ARV range, known CapEx, and seller motivation.

I’m staying active but stricter: tighten the buy box to durable B/C neighborhoods, underwrite to in-place income first, and only chase value I can control like better management, lease-ups, and light turns.

I guarantee if you spend the hours going door to door, yes literally door 2 door, presenting self and talking to people, you will get 10X the deals you'd ever get trying to pitch your buy-box to a bunch of wholesalers or agents. 

One thing I wish I knew early: pick one simple buy box and make offers fast using facts, not feelings.

Then if they speak good English and understand what you’re trying to accomplish hope that they don’t say that they’re not the right person and you need to talk to someone else and they transfer you and your own hold again a long time or you mysteriously get disconnected And have to start the whole process over. 

Lock your house hack buy box now and build your core four early: an investor‑savvy agent, lender, PM, and contractor.