Your equity is actually your cash that is dead and tied up in the property. 

This is when I wish the lookie-lookies dead and I am glad they search us for weapons at the courthouse entrance.The sheriff runs the auction.

The deals of yesteryear are dead, the market’s soft and so’s my head.At times a teardrop drowns my eye, for the deals I had but did not buy; And now life’s saddest words I pen, If only I’d invested then!”

I'm also looking to flesh out my network of a trust-worthy handyman and plumber for sure.

For two months of the "dead period" (see below), I will also pay utilities of $200 per month - that is, $400.My total investment in the house is as follows: $16,000 {20% downpayment)+ $4,000 {closing costs}+ $5,000 {rehab costs}+ $6,600 {total payments of mortgage, taxes, and insurance for the first year}+ $400 {utilities for the period of holding costs}= $32,000.

But at one house I had a large tree in the center of the backyard that was mostly dead.

You are the Long John Silvers equivalent.You wouldn't catch @Lucas Carl dead in a McDonald's or Long John Silvers though.

I do not feel safe with dead equity in real estate, not since 2008.

Investor groups locally (and all my clients) are talking about it quite a bit because BRRRR method seems to be dead currently (not that it wont resurrect here as market moves, Tennessee is consistently ranked for good reason). 

And it is dead in the winter.