That will lessen your learning curve. 

My duplexes do receive an income approach to value when appraised, but because it is residential, the comps carry much more weight. 

We're fortunate in that the weighted average interest rate on both her and my student loans are pretty low.

But they are worth their weight in gold.

If real estate takes up too heavy a weighting in your portfolio, then you'll be hurt more in a recession, deflation, hyperinflation, or depression.

An unrecorded Quit Claim Deed in Washington State carries the same weight as if it were recorded.

The fact that you can measure the thickness of the financial cushion you've built between you and poverty also helps lessen the sting of the years that you spend clawing as hard as you could to get somewhere.I think a lot follows from being clear on those two points starting out.

Doesn't necessarily need to be something monetary but even the possibility of hiring them for your properties could be value.After a couple times of doing these, you'll have a better understanding of the process... but there will still be variables (labor, materials, your exit strategy also carries weight as well, whether you're going to fix-and-flip to a retail buyer or rent it out.)

Those neighbors aren’t pulling their weight because good tenants pay market rents .

@John Casmon episode with @Omar Khan (not mentioning for some reason)  goes into more depth (Episode 52):https://www.casmoncapital.com/podcastTaking annual #s and dividing by 12 is going to give you the wrong answer and cause a ton of problems.This is because value-add project are heavily weighted in the first months and stabilize over the year.