Luckily we made a good decision to address the security issues first by installing wrought iron fencing on the perimeter; automatic gates on the driveways and secure pedestrian and laundry room entry.

I put my first offer on a SFH in a non-gated public golf community. 

That sounds great if you can afford a carpet and paint flip or can afford a larger scale flip out of the gate. 

I would caution first time flippers to jump into such a high end flip right out of the gate.

I would not dump 40 grand on a course out the gate personally.

When you're a success, their tone will change and they'll start saying they believed in you the entire time.When Bill Gates left Harvard University to start Microsoft, I am willing to bet there were many people that told him he was crazy.

Hence the staggering out of the gate.  

Maybe because I'm in Los Angeles, I don't view cash flow as an absolute essential, at least not right out the gate.

You don’t want to open the floodgates to unreasonable requests right out of the gate and saying yes to this might do that.

To everyone who is just starting out please seek and take advantage of all the knowledge and wisdom that are fellow members are willing to offer because you only get one chance to get it write coming out the gate.