There are alot of risks using your heloc and you need to understand how you will make the monthly payments for the heloc AND how you plan to pay off the principle of the heloc.

Make sure you and your mortgage provider understand "delayed financing".

You MUST understand this as the suburbs are usually much nicer than the city.All of these challenges are why we have a map of Metro Detroit on our website with the cities in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties listed, as well as 183 Neighborhoods in Detroit.The majority of the 48235 zip code is Class C, the question is, do you understand what that means?

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

I understand that the tenants will paying me money that i will put towards paying off the house but it just seems like so much could go wrong.

So I understand, you are charging the tenants a $145 invoice because the plumber was unable to find anything wrong with the garbage disposal.

From what I read and understand, this means I'm likely going to struggle with getting a loan, not even considering the inability to pay any down payment.On the other hand, my parents have significant liquid assets, (think on the order of > 500k), that they are potentially looking to diversify into real estate.

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.

You don't need to know everything to get started; you need a foundation to build on, and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months.

Some lenders work with 220+ lenders and can really understand which lenders are best for you based on your situation.