You do not "learn more" with a duplex or quad that will help you get into 20+ units, then you can learn from a SFR, other than you will be forced to deal with more tenants, faster, which, I guess, is learning a lot about what owning property is like.

The key is knowing how to force a seller to comply with the agreement.

We have found that setting our expectations about what we want is helpful (financial performance, level of renovation we can handle, forced equity opportunities, number of bedrooms, etc) and then waiting for a deal to materialize. 

😂Plenty of lovely folks there, plus it's where Cannon Air Force Base is located, but we soon discovered that just having a base nearby didn't necessarily make for a lively real estate market.Shortly after that, we adopted our MUCHAS criteria:M - Near a military baseU - Has at least one college or universityC - Has a Costco or equivalentH - Has a hospital ranked at least as a Level II Trauma CenterA - Has a commercial airportS - Has a Sprouts (organic grocery) or equivalentThis has led us to look at often-overlooked markets like Lubbock, Texas and Augusta, Georgia.May be worth a look for you as well!

Mine are still young where I don't want to force direction but rather see how they react to things.

I purchased my second home in a much better neighborhood (neighboring houses all worth $100K+) with a better chance of appreciation, higher rent = better class of tenant, and room to add in forced appreciation if I build out a 3rd bedroom.I've learned A LOT this past year and a half.

I argue that a Prenup is FANTASTIC for 2 reasons I never hear mentioned about them: (A) It forces the very adult, and realistic consideration of a reality that things may not go as planned.

No PM wants the state digging into their records, so it will usually force them to contact you and negotiate a settlement and make your complaint go away.If that doesn't work, then I recommend you contact an attorney.

I wouldn't get my hopes up as he really has no obligation to, but if he sees a $5K item he can offer and forcing the legal aspect would cost $5K as well, he just might go with path of least resistance...The other aspect is you should 100% figure out exactly what the cost for you to take care of your items would be.

If you’re okay with moderate negative cash flow as a "forced savings plan," that’s fine, but I’d advise setting clear boundaries on how much loss you’re comfortable with per year.