Most of us who own RE came into it from somewhere else - either from working a regular job and squirreling away investment money into RE or working in a RE career and acquiring properties in the process. 5.

Now the rents have skyrocketed over the past year and we find we could be renting to a regular sized family for about $200 less than what we get now!

Do you perform regular preventative maintenance to avoid emergencies or are you more reactive?

But then, you have to inspect regularly and become the couch police.

Use the "extra" income to build a reserve for maintenance, vacancies, and other expenses that don't happen regularly.

Keep in mind the other homes on the market may all be over-priced at the moment, which is why it's important to watch the market regularly and build a strong sense of what it's doing.

As you have experienced this is the nature of these transactions.

It's a regular response to help someone.

Then I get the prospective clients making 6 figures on their regular job but they're still swapping out doors on kitchen cabinets or fixing toilet guts in the evenings and can't see the forest through the trees yet. 

Sources for insurance and property taxes: Insurance - ValuePenguin, State Property Tax Rates - Rocket Mortgage.Low risk of natural disaster: Natural disasters can devastate your property and the surrounding community, leading to job losses and the closure of shops and businesses.