Others follow the 1% rule, calculating annual maintenance costs at 1% of the property value.Property managementHiring a property manager can help to eliminate the stress of residential real estate investing.

Eliminates shipping costs on big pieces this way.

If the decision to purchase materials is trust related than that is a red flag and should likely eliminate the GC from consideration.

This home had a HUGE delay that cost us thousands of dollars.The group that put in the underground plumbing dug the plumbing too low, and by the time we caught the mistake, the slab had already been poured and the septic tanks installed.We had to dig up the septic tanks, install a lift station, and reinstall the septic tanks.This all happened during 2 hurricanes, which caused even more delays.Time kills deals.This is why you need to 1) be conservative with your timelines and costs, 2) add contingencies to your budgets, and 3) have a healthy profit margin.

Hi Mario C,I do agree with you that having a coach/mentor is worth the price of the mentorship to avoid costly mistakes.

@Alan Asriants there is no added time or added risk when buying properties that one triple net leases.All the drawbacks you mentioned are eliminated with NNN leasing owned properties.If the interest rate on the loan is low enough in relation to income received, there is no financial point in eliminating leverage, mortgage.

On paper, it's a good asset with a good rate to work off of, but thinking you can easily convert both units to 3-bedrooms in Queens is a mistake, one that could cost you.

Learn from other people's mistakes - It is SO EASY TO RUSH into real estate investing instead of finding people who have done what you want to do and work with them. 

I used a friend for the mortgage (who was new) which was a mistake... my financing fell through on the day of closing in July.

@Courtney HamiltonRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.