I was fortunate that about 50% of that was reimbursed by insurance and that I had additional savings to cover the issues.I tell every investor that they should have a reserve on the day of closing because unexpected expenses tend to pop up within the first 6 months of ownership.

Fortunately for most, they will never have to find out in court that they did things all wrong.

I have no doubt That was mostly what you saw in your home state of California Fortunately, in the markets I was invested in, we experienced no rent depreciation and no noticeable increase in vacancies of our LTR units. 

I have had many people tell me it is a lofty goal and isn't possible, but with my fortunate financial situation I have already made it a 1/4 of the way there. 

I am more of a go slow but quality kind of guy and fortunate enough to have the cash flow to do so.

Fortunately, my mother is moving, and we'll be renting out her house starting April 1, so that covers me on the DTI part, but I'm trying to figure out if there is a way that I can purchase an MFR so that I can live affordably in Sac, have REI, and not break the bank. 

You are young, you have plenty of time to build your real estate fortune.

Fortunately, I do have a lender who will do loan for 20% down and 4.7% so I'm confident on those #'s.

I was fortunate that the buyer was able to come up with the additional down payment.

It makes me cringe.I consider myself very fortunate to have discovered these lessons on the front end of my career (training aside), rather than when I’m 65 wondering what happened.