At this point I was fearing for my property as it was actively being damaged.

There will always be a level of fear of failure and you will most likely experience some, mitigating that with diligence will keep you in a healthy state of paranoia.

So I fear the unknown in NYC and don't touch it.

1) cannot qualify for traditional financing2) fears appraisal will come in low3) fears buyer will back out so reduces contingency optionsnote for cash purchase I expect a significant discount.  

Feeling uncomfortable with sellers stems from some kind of fear. 

Unfortunately i fear you will mostly learn what not to do/repeat.Good luck

Your investment properties are in jeopardy.People constantly create these fear-mongering hypotheticals: "What if you fall asleep at the wheel of a bulldozer and run over a family of sixteen watching Home Alone 3 in their den?"

Beyond experience, make sure they align with your vision for scaling and financial independence.Finally, don’t let fear of the unknown hold you back.

Not to say you're doing that, or full max levered, just stating that outright.For all we know we could wake up one of these days and learn some random event such as Sam Altman from OpenAI is a fraud and the market tanks on such widespread fear to America's road to progression.

That's something I COULD do with a regular mortgage at the end of every month, but out of fear of not being able to get it back, I wouldn't.