Real estate investment is the vehicle I have chosen to help liberate me from being leveraged by employers.Thoughts?

Carpet shall be of Xxx quality, and color chosen by owner.Vacuum carpet, clean windows and general wipe down of room once completed.This list above looks anal, and it very well is.

But it is a gamble, and at the least you have something to get you around town!

It is a mathematical fact that if you are buying a rental property in any city where the monthly mortgage payment exceeds monthly rental income, or where mortgage payments along with monthly expenses exceed monthly rent, if any of those scenario applies, a down payment would be only other material method to avoid a negative cash flow situation.You let the investor worry about his gamble on the market going up.. thats not your problem.

I would have started learning about investing in RE in college rather than gambling on stocks while taking notes.If I have the knowledge and drive back then I might have skipped a party to buy a house or two. 

NOTE that you are gambling that the Interest Rate will AVERAGE 6% for the HELOC.

You have definitely chosen an amazing area -- rents keep going up and more people are coming into the area every day!

Buying for appreciation is a gamble.

I know people do it, so it can be done, but especially in a multiple replacement property situation, it's a gamble!

Optimal results come from understanding these nuances and being able to shift and combine strategies to tailor to your specific goals and what the market has to offer at that time.The part that I don't necessarily agree with is that the path to true wealth necessarily has to be a ton of doors in a multifamily ... true enough, that is one of many paths to wealth, but I personally have intentionally chosen a very different path that has worked very well for me over the years.