We then put.a fat heloc on it for an opportunity fund. 

Fats aren’t actually bad.

If you look at your return on equity right now it is probably pretty low so you will want to mobilize that equity as much as you can in some way. 

To say, "do all that for me and send me the cash flow" at your price point...Yes, you sure can in a few places..

From what I’ve learned on the BP Podcasts, it is key to get engaged in the forums, read as much as you can in the BP blogs, REI books, and these forums.

In some cases, YES but for most investors specially the newbies, I will not recommend buying alligators (properties you have to feed).Maybe once you have a five positive cashflow properties then maybe you can feed an alligator...provided you can butcher (meaning sell) that alligator in a hurry and get to your FAT profit fast  :-)

It's a long term strategy in RE, rather short term windows in the securities market.You can buy stock and let it ride and see where you are 20 years later, not a good idea, but you can. In

Bad rental situations in the Mid west cash flow market ( IE bad tenant loss of value because of trashed home or what Ali described as she lost money getting her rentals straightened out) Can in many instances never be recouped.

If you have a lot, some people will see you as privileged "fat cat".

@David SaundersAt least once a week, someone posts to the commercial newsgroup seeking a way to finance 100% of the acquisition cost for an income property.I suppose it is fueled by the late night infomercials touting no money down deals and using pictures of Class A apartment buildings, never saying the one describes the other, but leaving a strong impression that that is the case.The way it comes across, one would believe that all you have to do to become a millionaire in real estate is to acquire the properties with OPM, meaning Other People’s Money, and then just sit back and collect the big fat checks they like to flash on the screen.