true wealth isn't determined by the amount of money you have in your bank account, it's what you do with it. having all that money vested in a single asset only opens you up to people wanting to sue you for the money you have. having other assets will increase your wealth, if you make a profit from each one, if you buy and hold and you do your math right, the tenants pay for the property and you make income on it. the real estate also becomes a tax vehicle to help diversify the income. you would rather be taxed at 25% on say a $2000 income on a paid off property, or taxed on $800 of income monthly because you borrowed money to buy other properties producing the same ?

Paying down principal on loans just to say a couple. 

Good management companies average well under 1% vacancy.I would say as investors we are looking for a minimum of 15% cash-on-cash.  

Say a person owes 10k on their mortgage and a few 1000's in taxes what if I offered them a higher amount?

I'm still accepting paper checks for the few units I have myself, however I'm sure there will be people that comment to say a few good suggestions.

So let me get this straight: let's say a problem with the title crops up.

If you focus on the following, you can probably reduce your risk and not have to worry about the area getting worse for a long time:-access to public transportation, job and population trends, rent growth, vacant housing stock in the area, quality of school districtFor example....If you're planning to invest in a town with one large major employer (say a manufacturer) and that employer goes out of business or has a mass layoff due to an economic downturn, it doesn't matter if you own single families or multifamilies......there isn't going to be anyone to rent your units or buy your property.  99% of the time, a diversified local employment base is better (or atleast one that has many employers that are downturn resistant - health care, education, government, etc.) 

After 6 months , for me to be able to get any money out of the property to use for say a Down payment on a Future property, pay off bills , etc.  

He means that he finds the After Repair Value of the house using the price of comparable houses that have sold within say a 1 mile radius and within a short time-span and estimates the cost of repairs and works that into his offer. 

Do I put the utilities in my name or LLC and am I able to only turn them on for say a 30 day period?