After re-reading the original post, I can see where I've confused things.Hope the above clarifies things.

@Dan Handford Please re-read my response more carefully.

I've read, and reread the case study several times hoping to find something I'm missing that will help this make sense to me.

If you have less than $80-120K in cash, you'll either have to find deals that generate higher returns or you'll have to save more cash.Btw, for $3000/month, just triple the numbers -- you'll need $240-360K in cash to generate your desired returns (assuming 10-15% CoC).Just re-reading this post after having not seen it for a few years and man-I don’t know if this is still true for anyone else but the numbers that J Scott quotes are spot on in my markets.  

Glad to have you hereHi Brandon,The Ultimate Beginner's guide has already taught me a lot and I am actually going to be re reading it again just to make sure I take in as much info as possible.Any and all tips are highly appreciated from anyone!

I've also read and reread J.

Ok I will re-read it. thanks 

Still a little confusing, but I will continue to re-read the articles you posted.

Upon re-reading the bit about security deposits there, it's a bit illusory.

I just re-read what I wrote and I phrased it horrible.