If you plan on financing these properties your rate of return is limited to your purchase price. 150k average purchase price has a much higher return that a 50k purchase price.And heloc's, stand alone seconds, etc don't get put into this formula because they can be used in any market to over come the 10 loan limit.

IRR has problems as well, but many of these can be overcome when using MIRR or Excel's XIRR function instead.

I have been looking into 6 & 7 plexes initially, but the 20 unit kept drawing my interest.What I planned on doing was to buy a 6-plex, spend a little time improving it, and then doing it 2 more times in about a year.Since I am overcoming my fears, this 20 plex looks more doable.

@Karen Margrave my point is simply that we all have to overcome a perceived deficiency or flaw; whether accurate or not.I'm just honest enough to admit that I form opinions of people throughout my experience with them.

The second best time is today.Write out your family goals for one, five, ten years, what steps you need to take to get there, what obstacles are in your way and how to overcome them.

Luckily I own substantial amount of units to overcome it.

@Terry Lao, You may be supposing fear is logical and can be overcome with knowledge.

I enjoy getting up Monday morning because I'm excited to go in and help my team solve problems and overcome challenges. 

My biggest obstacle that I seem to have to overcome is not having patience and wanting to dive right in.

Oh I don't see it as a mountain that must be overcome to getting your first deal or two done, but it may feel like that to someone starting out.