Heck I might consider sacrificing a chicken if I thought such an activity might help me turn up a deal in the Austin area...

Scott, just noticed you're in Michigan as well, it's a typical bungalow here, the master is smaller sized and the closet will be basically sacrificed for the bathroom, maybe what would be left are shelves and I could provide some of those hanging racks for clothing storage

We found the focus was on immediate 'number gratification' by lip sticking empty units, getting warm bodies in units, cannibalizing sacrificed empty units, etc.

You can get good returns over the short run to increase your “war chest” without sacrificing the same level of liquidity as if you bought real estate equity.

I'm ok sacrificing some returns for hiring out anything that takes longer than about 15 minutes, and at this point am pretty much assuming that I'll be using property managers.  

You may be sacrificing other more traditional career path opportunity costs by going this route, of course. 

Newbie here too, I dove headfirst into my first multifamily in Rock Hill SC at the start of this year (8 units) it's definitely been a learning experience but it can sometimes take up so much time I'm leaning toward sacrificing some profit to get a property management co to handle it :)

You're sacrificing cash flow (which actually produces a measurable return on your investment) for appreciation. 

I don’t mind sacrificing a while longer if it means I can make my dollar go further

Kills the time on long trips and helps pay for gas.What have you sacrificed for saving down payment?