I began to realize that this wasn’t some pipe dream or get rich quick scheme, it was a very real path that people were taking to put themselves in positions to have enough passive income to leave their jobs and live life on their terms.

Prior to 2008, the market was saturated with “no money down” schemes that required little-to-no capital expenditures from the borrower.

Once you figure out the payment schemes, next you have to see what kind of resources they have to help you. 80% of real estate agents fail or only make like 40k a year so you have to avoid those people and only focus on finding a niche.

There are several depreciation schemes accessible in real estate, particularly for multifamily structures.

I'm sure you learned alot of lessons from that time, so in the grand scheme of things it gave you the experience to correct course for the future.

Make sure you elect this fixed element properly in colour and design to avoid it in becoming dated over time. 

I go in, spend about $1500 (floors, a specific attractive signature paint scheme and bathroom upgrades) and transition the unit from section 8, to retail rentals.  

@Peter Tverdov   I am very value oriented, but I remember early in my career fighting for $1000 and loosing that one and a few others for what was really insignificant money in the scheme of things. 

In AB the taxes are a bit different and about 1% of the property value-often a bit less than 1% again the two seem to be decoupled.American and Canadian property tax schemes are quite different I believe. 

I agree that there are some inexperienced ones out there, but if your agent was doing a great job, you were closing on stellar deals and you were satisfied with how the agent performed, then the commission you paid them probably isn’t that big of a big deal in the grand scheme of things.