Sooo... before I invest...

[Matthew Nixon]

So my wife and I engaged in a pretty heated conversation. My wife is amazing, but we are simply wired differently. My wife is totally ok with punching a clock Monday through Friday, the slow grow of a 401k, and possibly being miserable at a job if it means security. I have the same goal of security, however, a different approach towards it. To a person like me, investing in real estate makes great sense and is a calculated risk. To a person like her, all she can see is the risk. 

Please advise... I understand that taking on rehab investments comes with risk. I have no cash flow yet thus any project I take on will be on loaned money. I imagine that a few of the obvious risks with doing fix and flips is:

• There is a delay in the rehab and it starts to eat into profit margin, or possibly even into the negative
• The house doesn't sell as soon as expected or in the allotted amount of time
• The rehab is finished and the appraiser low balls you upon the house being purchased thus effecting your end profit 

Here are my questions:

1. What are other, if any, risks in fix and flipping?
2. Let's say everything goes to hell and all the cushion you left/calculated for yourself for holding costs etc. is exhausts? Like, let's say you calculated 6 months, but after 8 months the house still doesn't sell and you can no longer make the payments to hold the property, what happens then?
3. Will the lender put a lean on the now renovated house?
4. And last, I want to ease my wife's mind, in order to do that I need to know and understand how to protect my personal finances and assets from being involved? Will an LLC protect my family and our home? Do I need to put our home and finances in a trust? I guess I'm asking how do I protect us from a failed project?

Thank you anyone who takes time to read and respond to this.