Or what can I do to prevent myself from find myself in a situation in which i buy the house-- I know double closing can place me in such situation, but what else should i be aware of?

I don't want my fiancee to chew my head off because my RE investing prevented us from getting a home with a low down payment.

Its great to learn this business doing a few smaller deals, understand the ins and outs, the tenant landlord laws, how to rehab your units for preventative maintenance, tenant headaches, etc.  

Before:Later:After:This house is extremely well insulated with 2'' of exterior foam board under the siding and an air sealed and insulated attic.

We do most of the minor rehab ourselves, but the occasional HVAC or gas issue has popped up already.You need:HVAC guyPlumberGeneral handyman (fixes the roof, etc.)Initially, I used the HVAC company who I use on my primary residence, but then I had to get a quote from them on a blower motor for my HVAC air handler.

@James Wise I think what Ned means is that there is nothing to prevent an interested Buyer from talking directly to a Seller (if they can be found), even if the Seller does have their property listed exclusively.

Fire and Police unions and their lofty compensation packages are ruining the city budget which prevents the city from cleaning up the streets in areas that might otherwise be interesting to develop. 

I'm active duty Air Force deployed to Afghanistan.

Also, take a listen to my Bigger Pockets Podcast on MHP investing that just aired today.  

Is this a "plucked from air" statistic?