(I'm not joking either.))But it doesn't matter which route you take, they both had the same thing in common, they made money, and they always made sound business decisions.Success wasn't about feeling good about yourself, it wasn't about reading the Bible (no offense, I say that as a pastors son), it was about making good decisions all the time.Something I hear constantly from the $15ph people "I work hard".

They probably are.Back to damages, when I am going over the lease with the students I stress the term "jointly and severally" and how that means that if their roommate's friend punches a hole in the wall EVERYONE pays for it, I try to make the kids police themselves so I don't have to.

I think about this constantly...

You need to constantly look for sources of private funds for your deals.  

I only see myself there if I outwork everyone and if I am constantly surrounded by people in the same field.

Managing 17 bank accounts seems cumbersome and think about logging in and out of each account to post separate rents received and constantly haveing to move money around to cover expenses.  

I have no axe to grind here except that I constantly want to remind people to make investment decisions based on hard data, rather than on feel-good stories and speculation about what neighborhood is next to gentrify.

If you do a joint venture then you may not have to pay much of anything at all but you will have to give up a part of your profit for them assuming all the risk.

Yes, they depreciate like crazy and there is constant upkeep/repairs too.  

It needs to constantly be sealed.