However, there is a risk and the bank has the right (and the resources) to make your life miserable.

If you are a newbie, step #5 might have to happen before step #4.As I mentioned, I decided to buy and hold in Baltimore.I was able to find a couple of places that was in my price range that needed minimal work.My criterion was pretty specific after looking at a couple of houses and talking to my team.The MLS has a large variety of houses, so going in without criteria will leave you miserable.

That's several miserable years.

@Matthieu Miser Welcome to BP!

We failed miserably.  

If you are flunking in a subject life can make you miserable, broke, or at least make you switch subjects to something else of more understanding.

Honestly,I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up Christian.I'm thinking of getting out of my current job anyway,and that is the reason for thinking about getting the RE license.It's simply time for me to do something different.I'm becoming miserable and while i'm not opposed to changes I am opposed to being miserable :)The wife and I have discussed it and we aren't opposed to selling our current home.With the cash from the sale it would be possible to buy at least 3 decent rentals.We could rent out 2 and live in one for awhile while we look for more.I've lived the high life with over 150k household income a year and the lowest in which I slept behind a chicken factory for a couple nights on the ground.Even if we only end up with a couple houses it would add to the income stream.I don't have a clue if this is what I want to do with my life or not.I've weighed the pros and cons and even if I fail miserably it won't be an issue other than pride.And i'm too smart to fail,I'm just hoping this time I won't get bored.

I've lived through the Cuban missle crisis, the assassination of John Kennedy, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the assassination of Martin Luther KIng, the Cold War, the "Jump the Shark" of Fonzi, the gas lines of the early 1970's, the Watergate crisis, the end of Gilligan's Island, hyper inflation, Jimmy Carter's "Malaise", race riots, hurricanes, earth quakes, 9/11, 2000 crash, 2008 crash, good grief, I can't go on, too many to mention.Yep, the economy survived, I'm still here, the world moved on ( except for walkmans now selling for $32,000) and nowhere was I promised a free ride or an easy life.As they say in "Men in Black" "Kay: "There's always an Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or a Corillian Death Ray, or an intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable little planet, and the only way these people can get on with their happy lives is that they do not know about it!"

If they take pic and you aren't taking "protective measure", , their miserable selves could call EPA.

The current owner inherited the property 10 years ago and has done almost nothing with it.Occupancy has been a miserable 39% with no marketing and very little maintenance.