There are lessons to be learned for investors that only come taking it slower.The most overlooked and underdiscussed problem with HML's or similar debt is the compounding effect that they bring into the investment equation and outcome.

The error is already made with the purchase and selling only compounds the issue by adding transaction costs.

I would just say the compound is gated, and a caretaker is always on the premises. 

Honestly if the market is going up you can make rookie mistakes and the market will generally cover you, however when the market is declining like it is right now rookie mistakes often get compounded, so take the next few months really keep learning, consider your goals and most importantly your risk tolerance and once you see signs the market is recovering jump in and as long as you’ve taken an appropriate risk for your situation and prices are going up you’ll be fine. 

Casey, private money is your easiest way to gain momentum, much easier than refinancing a whole package, everything else I have mentioned will aid and compound, but it takes time.If you pay someone in your family 6% on their money you should be able to earn repay a down payment in 2-3 years with interest.

Read the forums - most people are getting somewhere between 5-15% So of course it won't take that long, even discounting appreciation - because there's a really high cash-on-cash return + compounding going on.Notice that without appreciation / equity, that plays out like this: year 0-2 - 20k => 40k2-4 - 40k => 80k, 4-6: 80-160k, 6-8: 160->320kSo that's only buying 1 property!

Here most commercial lenders compound monthly or semi-annually (depending on the type of loan).  

One part stood out to me and I think it's worth compounding on:"I found out a friend of mine was doing something similar.

Then remove the brackets (1 screw per bracket) and fill the little holes with patching compound.

She drops the 30K into a mutual fund made up of a basket of stocks and gets 7% compounding interest for 30 years.