The trade offs for getting in your first property are well worth losing the free rent with mom and dad in my opinion.

They are like " a jack of all trades but a master of none".

Men generally have better depth perception and are more used to moving objects so are many time better drivers BUT they take bigger risks and have more fatalities when they do crash.Women investors (stock market) many times will do what they are told to do and not do a lot of trading and will stay in stocks when the market tanks so end up coming out ahead of men.Like as @Jay Hinrichs mentions these capital calls could very well be a disaster for marriages where the man is in charge of the finances.

Investors should fully understand that Section 8 is not a cure-all for Class C & D tenant challenges, it's just trading one set of problems for another.We see too many investors not doing enough research to fully understand all this and making naïve investing decisions.

These Forney houses are trading closer to a .8%..

Find someone at your local REIA who you click with and see about partnering with them, following them through a project, or offer to trade your labor/skills for them mentoring you. 

I am a roofing contractor now and understand there are multiple trades when doing this, however, I wanted to get a better idea of which trade comes after the other.

Point of the post : Over time, I have taken the DIY route on a majority of my properties and have learned a ton in terms of trade work.

The decision becomes so much easier if the exchange rate is close to 0.8-0.85 which where it has traded traditionally.

Ask lots of questions of the trades and builders/investors.