In many areas a landlord can be penalized double or triple the amount improperly withheld. 

@Eric C.Last one was May 4th this year I took possession of a 3 up 2 down triple detached legally suited property which was needing renovations but not really any repairs.

They have a triple I may upgrade to for $50 more but I'm only about 500 calls in and still working to carve out consistent time and get more efficient at the noting and classifying of calls in between, my biggest time waster currently.

Been working for months to get short sale approved on a triple wide 443 mobile home thats 1,880 Sq ft and sits on a 70,000 Sq ft lot.  

I have about triple the amount of cabinets.

I tripled my wells fargo banking job salary my first year alone through my rentals.

It's not a bad deal at 10% ROI, but if you didn't have to kick in that extra, could you double, or triple (or more) that $10K over a period of 50 months in some other way? 

If you move the goalposts a little on either end, your 3% can easily double or triple - or halve.

When investors start talking about returns in the double digits, as opposed to simply double or triple the return in a risk free investment then, naturally, the risk is elevating.  

Whatever funds you think you need to start investing in real estate just double or triple it.