I wrote another post about this whole experience in the DIY forums.We opted to resurface the counters with Countertop Epoxy Resin.

We hired an attorney to defend against this frivolous lawsuit and $4k in legal fees later, we won (it was ruled that the contract was clear), and we countered for legal fees.

Even on institutionally held deals, the CAP rates aren't necessarily transferable (i.e. a large REIT might be able to drive down the cost of insurance considerably bc they are insuring multiple properties across multiple states and get lower costs on portfolios).  

Account Closed  also I have determined that real estate brokers or agents are far better risks than the average person looking to get started.. the looking ot get started is your highest risk and I would only do that if they are local and I know I can drive up and take over when they crater

However, I enjoy the entire process, the calls, emails, scheduling once I do drive into it I believe it will be enjoyable.

I chalk it up to three things: i) the trend of people living and working in our downtown neighborhoods is very new and most appraisers do not live down here, so they haven't gotten informed of what is driving the trends; ii) there are not a lot of comps yet; and iii) There are still good parts of neighborhoods and bad parts, and parts that just haven't caught up yet but will within a year or two: Washington park has plenty of $330K condos surrounding it, but the same condo 5 blocks away lists for $190K.

Also an LLC does not protect you if you go and do something stupid, i.e. drunk driving and hit someone, they can get to anything that you have LLC or not.If you are going to be using a lot of leverage with the property then don't put it in an LLC yet, mainly because you will not get as good of financing terms.

These are Fannie Mae Forclosures.Other ways are driving around, "driving for dollars" looking at individual bank websites for REO.s, Keep looking, I do spend a lot of time on the computer, but automating searches is a great way to get instant notifications of properties you may be interested in!

This tells me that submetering might drive all tenants out (almost all units on the rent roll are $25-125 below average rents, including the competition) and that even if I underprice the competition by $25-$40 or so, I'll likely loose to them (as the winter heating bill will easily eat that up. 

. :-) There are neighborhoods in Hillsboro, Aloha, Tigard, and even Beaverton on the West Side where you can find a home within your budget and are an easy drive into SW Portland.