But I know there will be hard lessons to learn, so I’ve made sure to have a huge cushion of resources.

On one axis you have the politics/regulation of a region - generally, liberal areas will have more delinquency because of the prevailing mentality, public messaging and restrictions on contract enforcement currently in place; the other axis will have the Class of property (A, B, C, D) - and the lower income tenants are going to have had less to fall back on in terms of reserves and rent/income cushion and will tend to have higher delinquency. 

This “cushion” provides security for your investors return as you will take the financial hit should a deal go over budget or take longer to sell.This should get your wheels turning when it comes to securing a partner for your next deal.

And by the grace of god he gook off.. gone was our VW bug with no back seats my brother and I would sit on cushions.. my mom having to make our cloths and being self conscience to wear them to school.. not being able to have money for hot dog day  etc etc. 

And make sure you have adequate reserves.That said, a lot of people got burned in the last crash by too aggressively pursuing deals like that - Personally, I sleep a lot better at night with a 25% equity cushion...

This is the  business we're in - The best thing you can have going for you is to have a 'cushion', some sort of savings or other form of income.

Investors get into trouble using loans when they do not have that cushion to pay for that new roof in one home and the HVAC in the other that is sitting vacant.

It made it nice to have a little cushion their.

., and just not having a cushion, as well as negative cash flow you are purchasing (stress, frustration,fear and regret all in one.  

Not only does this help by creating more cash flowing opportunities but this "forced appreciation" or value add will provide a cushion and also the opportunity to borrow (Heloc) or refinance to pull cash out.