But if you have larger expenses coming, it's a good idea to save more to lessen the burden of those high ticket repairs.

Ticket #8125531.

I’m thinking maybe I don’t need to worry so much about accounting for maintenance & capex in the first couple years since a lot of those big-ticket items are brand new/recently upgraded?

Your ticket to entry is not in the institutional market unless you are prepared to pay like an institutional investor.I also suppose this sort of reality doesn't exist in these seminars.  

If you have a portfolio/properties take a pay cut but REI will not be the shiny ticket out. 

If that's true, then once someone has the login they can use that login to buy movies, PPV, upgrade to 4k, NFL Ticket, etc...

Real estate will not be your magic ticket out.

Once you have experience and learn to budget for occasional big ticket cap ex items that every house has whether it’s 100k or 1M, it becomes really hard to make any profit.

Went to school 20 miles from the Canadian boarder where it was regularly -20 degrees in the winter, and we'd still rather be .2 miles from the bars & well over a mile walk/ drive from the actual school.I do see a lot of first time investors thinking that student housing is going to be their passive golden ticket, but quickly realize how much work it really is.

The way more challenging part is #1 finding the deal of course, #2 finding great contractors that would take on this type of project with payments to them working through installments, #3 finding great terms on your refi.My advice would be to look aggressively for #2 and #3, so if you do come across the golden ticket of #1, you are ready to pounce.