Also keep an eye out for evidence of any lease violation.... unauthorized occupants, unauthorized animals, tampered smoke alarms, damages, etc.In addition to checking all of the smoke alarm devices, plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, appliances, and operation of doors and windows, ask the tenant if there's anything that's not working or needs attention.

The water company turned the water on into the house and didn't check the meter to see if it was running.

Have you already checked Brandon's book on Rental Property Investing?

Li - you need to look into UBIT and UDFI - this will all vary based on hold period, debt ratio and depreciation schedule, if GP is doing an accelerated schedule you may be ok --- but you need to check all these parameters.

But to be safe, zip codes 98501, 98506, 98502 are going to be your best bets to stay in the Olympia school district (always double-check of course). 

@Russell Brazil with all due respect, please check again.

I appreciate the feedback and will check out the suggested podcast.

You can also use sites such as propertyshark to check.

Thank you Lyall....I will check out meet up.com to see what is available.  

I hope this isn’t a dumb question, but when comparing rates and terms for HELOCs from different banks, is it possible to provide my income/current expenses/credit score or SSN to run a credit check and estimated home value to different banks and get a good faith estimate of what the rate would be without having to apply first, since, from what I understand, I can’t apply at more than one bank at a time because it would be considered mortgage fraud.