That way, we avoid surprises down the line.

I am surprised to hear Reno.

Not a surprise to see another guru being exposed.

To avoid surprises ask your lender for a rate lock.

I think the overall tide is rising in NC, and we've seen a statewide appreciation in value and yield that we all get to benefit from, but for some reason I would be fairly surprised that a town outside of Raleigh would beat the kind of outrageous returns that are commonly seen in the mountains right now. 

In fact, just plan to be surprised.

Hey Robert, I would like to recommend something that I have found helpful.Very simple- go to a mortgage calculator online (a free one that does not require you to input any information about yourself)- take the amount of $100,000 as your purchase price, and play with the variables- hold everything constant, but vary your down payment amount (5%, 10%, 20%, etc) and see what that does to the mortgage amount- then hold everything constant and do the same for interest rate (4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, etc)By doing this on a simple amount of $100,000, you can begin to see the magnitude of changes to down payment and interest rateDepending on the situation, this may end up surprising you.

• Any surprises regarding membership eligibility, membership application, or underwriting hurdles? 

Now there have been challenges in my portfolio and with these properties, including two hurricances and 6 insurance claims ( still unsettled), but the upside and surprise growth is a great example of what investing in real estate can do.

A lot of people are surprised that the irs and state takes 40%.