.- Got taken to lunch by my realtor, contractor, property manager, my tenants- Got scammed by a guy who posed himself as a MF lender- Got bullied by a real estate lawyer to sacrifice half my deposit for doing nothing wrong.A not so warm welcome.. got out with my teeth kicked in..That is not to say the market may not be for you!

I suppose its a matter of individual taste, but personally, I have a need to understand the bigger picture before I put my hard-earned cash at risk (goes for the stock or bond markets too).

So I'm at about $2 million equity and $800K in stocks (some bonds).

Rents are low still in Edmonton, nearing a bottom, but this is an easy way to cut your teeth in investing for cash-flow (with lower maintenance if you are self-managing).

Some take this further and equate more to a bond which usually has a fixed coupon. 

I like cutting paper checks to vendors and etc...I like the big black business checkbook binder, especially on the jobsite (nothing feels more like the Boss than having that check binder in hand).You can que checks to be printed in Quickbooks and then print and sign them.Or have someone else prepare, que and print the checks for you, but retain signing authority to yourself and physically control the paper checks to prevent theft of funds.You could run an A/P day every 2 weeks (or more, or less) as needed.Standard Accounts Payable precautions (bonded, etc...) should be taken if you have someone else keying them in (your CPA should be able to clarify this).With another set of eyes and hands on the cash bank account you have to be careful of embezzlement.Then just have the person paperclip the check to the invoice and stack them in a wire basket for you signature.When done signing, return them to the person for envelopes and mailing.Have your A/R person input the handwritten checks from the binder also.

Until we see Bond yields normalize and become un-inverted, it's hard for me to see mortgage rates come down. 

Similar to a $1M bond that yields 10% interestGenerally, cap rate refers to how "expensive" your real estate cash flows are, the lower the cap rate, the LESS risky the cash flows are.

My opportunity cost analysis (available at https://imgur.com/a/6kOLoFl), compares: (a) paying off the $115k balance on the mortgage versus (b) keeping the current mortgage (or refi at 5%) and throwing the $115k into a T-bill ladder or 30-year T-bond.

Do you need to install manholes or fire hydrants.What are the bonding requirements, inspections and CO process.