It depends on a lot of factors; primarily the local jurisdiction rules that may limit lease changes (in Portland/Oregon rent, security deposit, screening fees, an no-cause evictions are heavily regulated).

If I have no mortgage the cash flow is more secure.

The loan has a MUCH higher risk for the lender because it isn't secured by real estate.

There are also others who assist in teaching you DD.Another route is to find a broker-dealer who invests in alternative investments like real estate funds as they will have done a lot of DD on the sponsor as well. 

If it does you have zero asset/income, a much larger debt secured by your personal residence, at just the time you probably also lose your job due to economic conditions, and all those nice folks teaching you about sno ball, infinity, you’re your own bank, etc., will be long gone.  

You are not responsible for his failure to secure his personal property.

For example I have an account for each property and a sub-account just for the security deposits for those properties.

Neal and Jean-Marc were supposed to secure construction funds.

Toward the end before closing, they gave bunch of excuses like security breach in their company, don't like the file and the property.

I did the right thing by asking for the security deposit and first month of rent before handing the keys.For the next two months, she has been a nightmare.