I liken it to school children that have a substitute teacher in their classroom, whom they give no respect and challenge at every opportunity because he/she is constantly compared to the regular teacher's policies/demeanor/management style.Good luck!

Do you provide sand as a substitute to salt? 

On these posts, if you were to substitute "yield" or "operating yield" instead of "cap rate", all of a sudden things would start making more sense.

Seems this guy took the tenant eviction procedure and substituted the word squatter for tenant.If there is a squatter in your vacant house and you call the police, they may say they can't determine if squatter is there legally or not in which case you have to go through the legal process. 

There is no substitute for boots on the ground experience. 

That's no substitute for doing my own due diligence, but at least they filter out a big portion of less qualified sponsors.

In a way, you just substituted part of your cash flow, by eliminating the negative from the cash flow...and still own the house.

If you were willing to accept a reduction in your CF due to a loan payment, why not substitute a payment to a partner instead. 

You may be able to substitute an experienced manager/management company but you will need to have similar business experience.If the last recession was any indication of the next downturn, the hotel industry will be hit hard.

I must say that the ideas and approaches shared in these resources are great primers for approaching and completing your first deal, but there is no substitute for personal experience.