This is one reason why a 6 to 10 unit building has a higher CAP rate than say a 50 unit building, more risk (i.e. cost spread over fewer units in the 6-10 vs the 50).The cost of capital: Since the Cash Flow orientation is an arbitrage, it would stand to reason that the more you are going to pay out, the more you need (or want) to make (it's another proxy for the risk).Experience: The more experienced investor, the better understanding of risk in the marketplace... this is why BP (and everyone else) pushes having a mentor, reading, understanding, collaborating etc.

I also wouldn't shy away from taking on a little work yourself, when I say a little, I mean a little.

You could, in reality have the issue I pointed out with an unrelated guarantor, say a business friend offered to be the guarantor.

I'm not sure why you say a self directed IRA is not necessary.

Would you say a bachelors in Real estate with a minor in Business analytics improves my odds of showing a background on the field?

Hard to say. A

Given that you know the area, would you say a 4b/2.5b 1500sqft house near Hanahan Middle School for 245K would still be a good get assuming 20k repair?

Let's say a 3,000 sqft. home, and I would want the quality in the mid-range.Thank you.  

Even if these things aren't exactly correlated with immediate property value increase - like say a new state of the art elementary school would be - they are still important factors to consider.

A problem arises with tenant-occupied properties (say a tenant-occupied SFH) that you want to move into: you can only discuss a tenancy buyout AFTER close of escrow.