-Next time, use a brighter paint color. 

From the $30k you invested, it looks brighter - 29% ROI.  

I'll chime in with a brighter note.I think offsetting the costs of a vacation property with income is a great strategy, helping people do this is a core piece of my business.

It took everything in me to keep calm.... and it was at night with a flashlight.... 

Take a high-beam flashlight if you have one.

I could see the lightbulb over his head getting brighter by the mile.  

When you go for the inspection, take a flashlight, clothes to get dirty, and hopefully someone with a lot of experience with old homes.  

Delays and delays are adding to my holding costs.On a brighter note, have a showing this week for this property from a buyer who is very interested.

Tomorrow will always be a brighter day.I would have purchased the properties under my business credit so that when I go to refinance my personal credit wouldn't have been affected because the properties would not have been seen on my personal credit report.That's just my thinking....you should get multiple opinions.

Setup alerts on Zillow and Redfin for keywords that may indicate a fixer upper (handyman, handy man, fixer, investor, invester, TLC, flashlight).