I think what goes wrong is operations like this bite off more than they can chew and slide into a downward spiral, and then try to protect their own margins.

In my visitor log (which is just a spiral purchased at an office supply store), I devote one or two pages to each property.

i have been looking at a lot of multi's lately...thats what i focus on-3 and 4 family properties in one city north of boston...been an investor for almost 7 years here, and a few years ago i never thought id have the opportunity to buy another multi for good cash flow...then as we all know the downward spiral started...i started looking again about last year once these properties started to make sense on a cash flow basis...at this time there were zero buyers out there bidding on these types of homes in this particular city...now over a year later every decent multi-family (3 or 4 units) has several offers coming in...and in most cases its over the asking price...im glad i have been buying this year as each day goes by i can feel the bottom coming in this market...it all comes down to cash flow i truely feel we've seen the bottom at least in this city that i call my market...the bottom for almost a year now is $200K for a 3 decker (at least the decent ones that only need minor cleanups)...not expecting a huge pickup...but if my feel that this is the bottom is correct that would be sweet...anyone else seeing this out there?

It is a call to arms.[29] The economy spiralled downward until the banking system began a complete nationwide shutdown as Hoover's term ended.[35] In February 1933, When Roosevelt was inaugurated in March 1933, the U.S. was at the nadir of the worst depression in its history.

Buy a spiral pocket notebook and document the situation.

If not, guess that could cause the spiral down.Or maybe a capex item isn’t an issue, but if rents only cover your mortgage/tax/insurance, do you have enough at that point to cover your own living expenses?

Is Miami rental real estate starting to spiral down?

While I wouldn’t say this one spiraled out of control it did have scope creep at a much larger amount than I would have liked.Well there you have it.

During the working hours, I have been working with a custom staircase company building absolutely bananas spiral staircases and solid wood bathtubs and sinks. 

What I am going to tell you is something I wish someone would have told me when I found myself in a huge downward spiral and losing money at an alarming rate that I almost went bankrupt.