On this house, we spent money to have someone remodel the house for us. At the time, in our investors' group, we had quite a few individuals that bought houses and completely remodeled them without the help of a contractor. They operated completely hands-on. Is this better or worse to put all of the time into the building yourself? Is it better to save the labor costs, and spend huge amounts of time on the building? You be the judge! If you are buying houses in your area, and have experience fixing these houses up yourself, let me know what your thoughts are. We have other investors that are buying houses that are not in need of repair, and buying them directly from investors at a higher market value, and keeping these properties for rentals. For us, this is not our strategy, as we make more money from the repair of these properties. There are many ways to invest in real estate. You need to find the method that is right for you personally. I will tell you, we all learned a lot from each other, and from trial and error. Over the last 10 years, we have found what works, and what does not , and what is right for us, might not be right for another investor's personal financial situation or goal requirement. Let me tell you, there is no teacher like experience, and no friend like wisdom. If your desire is to invest in real estate, start reading, learning, and meditating on real estate. Don't start by looking at 100 houses like famous authors tell you to do. Don't knock on doors and ask people to sell their houses, until you have enough confidence in your ability to close that deal. Yeah, it's exciting when some seller tells you that they will sell you the house based on whatever "deal" that you and they have agreed upon, but, how do you know that it is a "good" deal for you, until you have researched the market, potential financing, current or eventual costs of acquisition, potential legal ramifications, and a host of other issues?