What is my next step? Leverage Concerns.

[Jeff Arndt]

Here is a little information about my investing career so far.

Property 1:  Upon graduation from college I saved like CRAZY to buy my first investment.  I searched and searched until finally I purchased a triplex that I lived in for about 200k.  I lived in it for about a year until I saved up enough money to purchases my next investment.  Cash Flow: $200

Property 2: This property is a SFH that I completely renovated myself for 18k. I did a brand new IKEA kitchen, brand new bathroom with a tile shower etc., fresh drywall upstairs and hardwood floors that I sanded and finished myself. Did more painting than I ever care to do again in my life. I learned a lot on this project built quite a bit of sweat equity. Cash Flow: $300

Property 3:  This is where things went downhill.  I purchased this property too quickly and I vastly underestimated the renovation costs of this project.  I had to bring in additional help and I am about 15k over budget on 0% credit cards for one year.  I plan to live in this property for 5 years or so and rent it out when I move.

My question is what do I do next?  I am feeling that I may have moved too quickly and I am proceeding with a little too much risk.  However, I am dying to keep moving, I would love to raise private money and find partners to do more deals, but I have no personal finances left to back anything up.

Please share you personal experiences of when you have felt stretched too thin in this business and what you did to fix it.  Or, would you be even worried in my scenario.

I know if I call Dave Ramsey he will say sell my properties and pay off my debt as quickly as possible.  But many of you on the forum will say to keep acquiring properties.

Which side are you on?

[Hattie Dizmond]

@Jeff Arndt 

Perhaps the issue isn't that you moved too quickly.  Perhaps the issue is that you need to diversify your investment strategies.  Why not look at Wholesale or Flip deals to build some capital for your next buy & hold?  Your cash flow alone is not enough to fund your continued acquisition of buy & hold properties.  You're either going to have to look at a strategy that generates returns more quickly, like Wholesale or Flip, or you're going to have to find better deals, where you get into the properties with built in equity that you could then pull out to fund either the rehab or your next purchase.

Hattie