Until you stumble on the next deal of the century where you can blow your budget out of the water and still net $77k!  

It's currently a pretty run down neighborhood of older homes from the early 20th century.

The Century Plaza Towers do look correct in the pic and if you are to the east of them looking westward, you should be able to see the sunset where it is shown in the pic because the area is pretty flat in West L.A. and Santa Monica to the south of Wilshire Blvd.

I hope you don't mind if I dredge up something that happened way back in the last century, but it left a lasting impression on me and you might have a different take on it.One of the first HUGE mistakes I made was back so long ago, people didn't even have cell phones.

I took a realtor course through Century 21 a few years ago for fun (i was making good money as a blackjack dealer) So I am starting at a point where I know the basics.

Just variations on a centuries old theme. 

The "no debt at any cost" crowd has to fall into one of the following categories:They have been blessed with some huge pool of money from which to puchase buy & holds such that no debt is necessary for their desired annual cash flow;They are satisfied with relatively low levels of annual cash flow in comparison to their comfort with any type of risk;They believe they are immortal, or nearly immortal, such that they have plenty of centuries to apply Dave's (and it's not really his) "Snowball effect" to purchasing properties.Anyone who falls outside those parameters is a good candidate to use leverage to build wealth.

There are indeed some sketchy neighbourhoods nearby but there's also a beautiful pocket of well-kept century homes at the NW corner of Jane St & Lawrence Ave.

I can't believe people still join these relics of the 20th century.

@Ryan Murdock - I have a few century old rentals too, but they are my least favorite for buy and hold.