We should have this bucket of capital lined up for the summertime and I'm certain we'll have a waiting list.

By the time you wash the walls, clean the carpets and wait to see if it still stinks, you may lose a month's rent, so often it is better just to re-paint and re-carpet.

You may wait 6 months to improve your credit to see if you could get a lower rate, but who knows where market rates will be.

My question is: if they agree to sell and are underwater does that mean it will still have to be done as a short sale with all the associated cost and wait times?

I tried to put together a spreadsheet for some combos on the market now and I think your'e right : people seems to count on the appreciation but well, it works until the bubble burst and then it's hell...I will continue to investigate investing in France or waiting for the bubble to burst and mabye act...

(not in it for the $$$, just to get into the market, PROBONO work)2. my accountant said I can't deduct any of the work I have done on it... b/c I am not generating any INCOME from it.3. in PA, I can't even management it if I don't have BROKER license (thank goodness for POA (power attorney)these are things I didn't know til after...I have another investor waiting (again a family) but I really don't want to do another probono work..... so I am getting my license now.Make sure you have in WRITING the 50/50 split, and that you have Power of Attorney... or open an LLC with both your names on it, and by it that way.we haven't decided to buy/hold/rent or sale.....my investor is pretty much hands off..which is nice bc they are out of state... but even still, "too many cook in the soup" can happen, b/c it is their 100% money and their property.without the POA...I have no say in this deal.

The bank may be waiting to see if they get more offers (though unlikely if the listing is pulled down), they may be working through title issues, they may be negotiating with other offers and keeping yours as backup until they have a contract, they may be busy dealing with other stuff, or they may have completely forgotten.There are times I get responses from banks within 8 hours and there are times when I never get a response.

I cant wait to read it!

So they hurt your debt-to-income ratio, but they have minimal impact on your credit score (as long as you make your payments).

These houses are all over the map dollar-wise, another one that I will hopefully be listing in a few more days will probably be listing for under $90k, I'm currently waiting to close the sale on another in the low $100's, we sold one a few months ago for $340k and the next house up to work on will probably list right around $400k.