HOA fees are a major pitfall nowadays.

I hope you can see the potential pitfalls in buying without a clear idea of what the value is and without a thorough plan.

If so, what are the pitfalls to look for?

I also look forward to contributing and hopefully helping others avoiding some of the pitfalls that I faced when I was new to investing.

He surrounded himself with only the ones that agreed with him and that was his pitfall as well.

The above are just 2 of the big ways where I screwed myself, but there are literally hundreds of other pitfalls when it comes to buy and hold property.On the more positive side I did also make good profit on a single family flip(by doing cheap but effective big city style renovations), and collected 1200/month cash flow for several years (real cash flow after ALL expenses and payment on 20% down mortgage)on another building.As of today, I own none of them and I am in the process of taking my knowledge gained and starting over, probably in a different city which has even better prices/taxes/rent rates.Even though I lost money overall I look at some of my experience as the college education that is not offered.

The only other pitfall I have found so far is after spending a lot of time on a deal you think is going to happen and have your C buyer lined up, the bank throws a monkey wrench into the whole deal and it falls apart and into the toilet.

I also want to do enough work in the field (1000 hrs per yr) over the next two years to become a Broker and start my own small firm and save on "commision splits", and to make a little profit from the brokerage.My questions is what are the potential pitfalls of being an agent.

There can be certain pitfalls with the purchase agreement and approval letters that if agreed to, the lender could pursue the B buyer for breach of contract or misrepresentation of material facts in civil court.However, in most states, the lender would have no course of action to the C buyer or B lender in my opinion.

A good broker can walk you through the steps & give you a good education & help avoid pitfalls.