How to not loose your @$$ buying rentals.

[Terry Royce]

So I've been looking at SFR and multi's in my area and I've been coming to the conclusion that multi's may be the better option (under certain circumstances) in my area.

My current property I've found is a 4 unit with est gross rents of 2450-2650 per mo. purchase price of 85k, repair est of 20k, with arv of 215-225k. Seems pretty good from my rough estimates.

But how does one jump into a multi as a first rental without loosing their shirt. I've got 40k in reserves, good credit, 2 OO rehabs under my belt and 4 wholesales, but the prospect of rentals intimidates me for some reason. I guess its the idea of sitting on it vacant while fixing, and while trying to rent.

What can I do to increase success, and minimize faillure and profit loss in order to jump into this situation.