You beat down markets by being in multiple markets, that is the way to keep your down market exposure to a small portion of you portfolio.

And I agree with everything you said Matthew, get insurance, know your business, use good management techniques and skills, also, know your area to understand your exposures, an attorney should know, so ask one.I've often said that you take on a greater risk driving your car than owning and renting a decent single family home, now, multi family is different due to the concentration of tenants.Don't be afraid to own property, it rarely bites compared to other risks we take daily without a second thought. 

Out of state SFH property in arrears. A son is negotiating with his owner mom who is behind. The son needs a cash partner (me). He has another investor offer on the table for 350 cash, but the son wants to buy/hold an...

This exposure will give you an idea about the different roles required to conduct the business.

Additionally, I have these questions for the Pattersons or others with alot of SS expertise (buy or list side):• Do lenders always require SS's to go on to the MLS, in order to maximize exposure?

I would avoid a lot of the more costly marketing strategies and focus on providing a quality service with minimal exposure through Google Adwords and Craigslist.

In retrospect it would have been a good time to jump into the market from an appreciation basis, but I owned my primary residence (bought in ’01) and so I had some exposure to a rising market.

Finally, I'm considering getting a real estate agent license simply to get my feet wet(ter), get more exposure to the business, and to potentially represent myself in purchases to save on the fee, or pass some of the commission onto sellers agents that may in turn be more motivated to bring me great properties.I'm JUST beginning to learn this stuff, so please point out anything that sounds crazy within the aforementioned :)Thanks a ton for the great information and especially inspiration.

Without knowing the whole development and what your exposure is it's hard to give a lot of info.I can tell you FOR SURE whether a corporate restaurant or not that rents do not stay flat for ten years.Even if a highly profitable corporate store rents increase at least 1 to 1.5% annually.If you have flat rents my clients will just buy a pharmacy with much more quality and security.Is this a ground lease, double net, triple net??

.,) and unnecessary exposures (legal, security etc.,).