You want to be as long term focused as possible while maintaining a stable source of cash to burn every month for life expenses 

This will give every chance of a stable rental market as well as property appreciation.

Here is some additional information to ensure success:First, tenant screening is critical, focus on creditworthiness, rental history, and stable income.

plus Midwest so a stable REI market.Here is the problem I see.  

It is hard because you feel like you are falling behind, but you are so right that I need to ensure that my foundation is stable.

But the question is whether one can actually achieve the proforma cash flow on older properties with a less economically stable tenant base.Based on your picture, you appears fairly young.My advice is buy properties in quality locations think long term 10 to 15 years - slowly and safely build your portfolio - equity and cash flow will increase over time and in 10 to 15 years you may become financially free.People talk cash flow is king but one can NOT generate financial freedom cash flow with $250,000 or $500,000 invested (equity).Even at a 10% cash on cash return, one needs $1.2M invested to generate $120K a year $10K a month.You want property to be self supporting so it needs to cash flow but once that is reached the focus in my opinion should equity growth which increases net worth.

If the property has long-term and stable tenants then a shared electric meter could work.

I've done an excellent job at meticulously tracking everything, so I feel comfortable with the "monitor closely to see what a stable asset looks like" strategy.

There are fixed costs you won't be able to get away from utilities, insurance, etc and are typically stable year to year or with some measured growth.

Hello everyone, I've done 3 buy and hold rental properties, and now I want to do flips, I need investors and I have some that have shown interest, in addition to speaking to private lenders that are willing to fund 70% of the LTV (based on the desired property)I'm seeing a lot of deals from wholesalers, but the problem is, some of them close in 2 weeks and some as long as a month, and they don't take conditional offers, and the good ones fly off the shelf really quick.My question is, how does someone like me close one of those deals within this short period, how do you arrange the equity and financing with little to no inspections sometimes even.I'd like to know how do I prepare myself to be able to close one of these good deals right away when they are offered to me and many others?