I am new here and sort of stumbled upon the site while trying to answer some specific questions and brainstorm my way (somewhat blindly) into my goals, and I see now theres so much more info here that I'm going to be reading for a while!

I don't mind gambling a small fee to each interesting property to discover whether or not there is a problem, but to stumble into a million dollar liability will end me.

I was looking for class B neighborhoods and stumbled across Dora and Jasper up north.

@Gloria Riley  while its pretty straight forward what needs to happen when buying dirt, there is a very well known process from start to finish.. no secret there.the number one stumbling block I would see with anyone trying to start is construction financing. your talking a very large construction loan.. and I am a small time builder developer usually no more than 10 million out in construction loans at anyone time.. and I know what I need to do financially to get a bank to fund me... its far more than just having capital ( which these projects take a boat load of) but its experience and relationships  that are needed..

I wish I had stumbled on a thread like this before.

I am very grateful that I stumbled upon this amazing site while looking through topics about investing in my future.

Through a connection at work I have stumbled upon an investment property that I want to purchase but since it is my first deal I want to make sure I am not missing something important.I developed a friendship with a colleague at work and he was gracious enough to take me around to see his rental properties. 

Basically, if you have the cash for a downpayment, you have the cash to pay off your debts (and likely more if you're looking at a DP on MFR).Waiting to pull the trigger is often a huge stumbling block for new investors, because it always feels like if you don't invest NOW, you'll miss out.

I think most of our recent competitors are novices like we were 2.5 years ago who stumbled upon this opportunity, not sure any of them will be ready to buy 4 at once BUT we might be able to sell off individually if we can get the word out to the right niche of folk - perhaps via a trade magazine or website.

It was so bad inside after cooking for 9 months that 10 seconds inside without a respirator and you'd come out gagging. 2 weeks later after stumbling across BP, reading and listening to Podcasts, I decided it would make a killer investment property.