Well, I want to have an idea of how much the individual items are costing me.

I've come around on the idea of leverage but still very conservative at heart when it comes to racking up too much debt.  

I'm starting to get a general idea of how I should look for a property that would be good to purchase, renovate, then rent out.

Selling it at this time would be a tough call for me due to the positive cash flow + good tenant.Thanks for the idea.

It is a good idea to get started early.

As Joel mentions, assume you have a meetup and general ideas are shared and there seems to be a willingness and match, then a partnership agreement would be smart.Secondly, what are you working on to prepare yourself to purchase a small apartment unit ?  

Jen Anderson , in regards to the property, NJ is a very large state so saying it is 35 mins away does not give a good idea of where it is and there are some developers that only focus on a specific county or even town.

This truly gives an idea of what interest rate you were paying yourself over the term of the deal.

I agree, checking out your local reia, which for us is SJREIA.org, is a great idea.

I like m-m's and have a few that have gone on for over a decade that way.Here in the north, coming up vacant in the middle of winter is never a good idea.