What I take some issue with is the techniques that guru's use to up sell and so on .. and they do nothing to qualify if the person paying them if the program does not work they are now into debt to the eyeballs and so on but then again who are we to say at some point.. think of  Hewlet and Packard they went into 15k worth of debt to start HP in late 40s or early 50s and that was a ton of money then :)

For example, I am a little concerned about some aspects of the business cycle recovery and a potential for a double-dip so I lean toward the safest part of capital stack which is debt (or low-debt equity).

I look for cashflow to service the debt, repairs, cap ex, taxes, and insurance while the equity grows, my taxes are decreased, and rents are increased to make more cashflow. 

If it were me, I would buy cash flowing, seller finance deals, keeping my debt to income low, low down payments and negotiate competitive terms.

The main factor is will rents cover the debt liability and can you sustain 3-4 months of no income to cover the debt? 

typically (as you probably know) you buy something distressed, with either cash or hard money, you fix it up, and then you refinance into long term debt. 

We have a ongoing list of each along with their fees and what state they are licensed to collect debt in.

The goal is to keep these for rentals.I currently own the land personally and am funding the builds with a combination of HELOC and cash - no bank debt tied to these properties specifically.

Take a look at the overall picture, i.e. credit score, debts etc.. to make a decision.

They use an economic vacancy figure instead of breaking out loss to lease, bad debt, and concessions so as to conceal their assumptions but a skilled operators can reverse calc it.