First and foremost, I wanted to say thank you to the community who has provided innumerable insights into the Real Estate investing world.To start with, I've been a lurker on BiggerPockets for about 3 years where I have watched webinars, listened to podcasts, and have read countless posts.

Hi BP,I am just about to be done with the initial learning phase of my real estate investing education and had a question about leverage.In the book "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Turner, as well as in numerous podcasts, say that leverage will help you protect your assets, along with insurance. 

Ideally, well run units with few complaints will get a preference over units that have resulted in numerous complaints. 

You want to work with a trustworthy and reliable team that operates in numerous markets.

And there are in numerable podcasts but I would certainly include BiggerPockets in the mix.

I've asked Apartments.com about certain features, like having the apartment numbers actually listed in numerical order instead of randomly and being able to email/text tenants thru Apartments.com.

I have invested in numerous markets around the country.

I have invested in numerous syndications and think I have a decent handle on what to look at when considering opportunities, looking to get better.

Having spent the first half of my life as a renter and having been in numerous properties with numerous landlords I never had a great feeling about the landlords who rolled up in what appeared to be expensive cars - many of whom were actually fine landlords.

If so then the hold of a year would benefit you in numerous ways.