But with that kind of debt, my worst-case scenario is that I end up owning the property at a discount, and hold it until the recession ends.

We made a lot of mistakes and definitely over spent but we learned for next time which is a reward in itself.

I love the idea of starting to invest in real estate now but I fear I am going to make a mistake if I do it on my own. 

The worst part is Bexar County allows this to occur and taxes keep accruing, often times making the tax lien greater than the actual value of the property. 

Murphy would have it fail at the worst possible time giving me some stress ROI too.  8-)  Otherwise, I don't think a tenant cares if there is a new or old furnace if they are warm.Jim.

Further, you have another pair of eyes to look out for possible mistakes.

Their service is sloppy and their phone lines are busy and they made so many mistakes in handling my account.

I made the big mistake of straight-out spending cash, whereas I could have benefited from more borrowing.

However, I'm still confused and unconfident.Real estate is completely new to me and at this moment I'm still training my brain to think like a professional investor before I take my first step of doing some small professional deals in action, although I've done some RE investments personally and I've been told by many people, "just take actions first and learn from mistakes."

So if you could tale a couple minutes and share your worst story of dealing with a wholesaler, I'd be super-pumped (and be one more step on my way to doing something not bad).