Do at least one thing every day to reach your goals no matter how small it is.

I am a man that does his best everyday to be a good person but have bad days just like everyone else.

This would be like a 2nd tour of the area, after your ride with the seller.I'd also eat in various parts of town because these everyday places (restaurants, shopping malls, grocery stores) are also where your tenants will be eating/shopping, so you get a good feel for the convenience of the area.  

I'm fascinated by the prospect of doing this as a career and learning more and more every day.

The cons would be that your primary home could be at risk.As I do not need the cash flow for everyday expenses, all money goes right back into the HELOC.

Bottom line: Be careful but don't let this make you think this kind of thing happens every day at every showing.

I spent every day for a couple of years researching the market, as we lived there, and understanding every property that was for sale, the trends, the demographics, and just the feel of every town (which is certainly different town to town).

A lot of the future risk and reward is going to be somewhat speculative itself, so you can see why there are hundreds of thousands of finance professionals who do this every day for a living.

I've done rentals and seller financing and I'll take the latter every day.

Being on-site every day, even if it was professionally managed which I would budget for, would give you piece of mind and you would know what it takes to "run" such a complex.