Hi Bryenne,We are a private lender working exclusively with investors and operate in that area.  

@Ryan Wright  When banks calculate your DTI ratio, they include the additional debt you will be taking on.  

Our buy and hold strategy is purely for income supplementation and to leverage into additional buy and hold strategies.

They basically come out the same if you leverage on both sides and then never take additional action.

In addition to the tools listed, I use Google maps to also learn an area. 

Create additional columns to the right of your leads with your mailing dates as the headings.  

Have any of you experienced this and know of an effective way to prevent the additional waste?

As long as you have not signed or stated any indication of solely and exclusively working with one agent, then you are free to browse the market as you wish.If you have signed an exclusive agreement with an agent, then I would go back and look in the documentation to see what it says about you finding the properties without your agent. 

Figure out what you have into the property for total cost and than run a highest and best use analysis.This should tell you whether to rehab what is there or tear it down and build something new with the same asset class or a totally different asset class ( commercial, etc.).Additionally once you find out the highest and best use then look at the TIME required to develop that use and receive income from it or sell off.Some people will get the fire department to do a "controlled burn" on the property and use it as a fire exercise.

In addition, some loans can have 5 or 10 year terms or not be fixed rate so if rates rise or you need to refi at the wrong time, sorry you lose.7) Overpaying - If you buy a property at too high a price you can cash flow but still lose because when you exit or try and refi you will pay around 5% in many cases to get in and out plus maybe not get your full purchase price out.8) Construction/contractor issues - contractors who take your money, do a poor job, take away too long etc. can cause major losses.9) Buying in the wrong area - If your B area turns into a C or a D the equity values will plummet as will your tenant base .