For example, if you’re a first-time buyer wanting to see 3 different cities, low down payment Ioan, no real idea of what you’re looking for, and need to lose 3+ offers before you’ll listen to my professional opinion on offer price & terms, you’re going to be paying me a lot more than an informed cash buyer looking in a specific neighborhood that listens to my advice so we quickly win the bidding wars we still have with lack of inventory in desirable neighborhoods.

Think on things like the property's quality, prospective value, and desirability to tenants.Making use of an FHA loan with a small down payment is a wise choice.

If done conservatively you will still have cash flow from the original property and will then be earning cash flow and appreciation on a second investment as well.

For those who have scaled to a company that is fully operational and scaled to the level you have desired how did you avoid scaling too fast?

A side hustle that earns $200 a month is not worth the effort.

We decided to focus on our earnings...

That was all that was available at the time.But because I didn't have someone available to fill in the gaps, I also made a lot of mistakes and lost a lot of money.What I decided was needed to be successful and to keep what you've earned:1.

(Their desire to get their security deposit back.)3) How does the tenant see this as anything other than a non-refundable security deposit that doesn’t go towards damages?

 - you are the only one that can determine the correct path for you but with your contacts and desire to scale, value adds should be evaluated.  

(For instance I put my property tax money in a HYSA and earn 5% interest on it until it’s due.