Now I'm educating myself and learning a lot.

My cash flow from my Houston portfolio would beg to differ (of which, about 700 units were bought in the last 2-3 years so we're not talking about properties bought in the 80s that happen to be doing well today)

And an electrician's license takes time to achieve, you may reconsider and get a contractor's license.Thanks john, That's exactly I'm doing, today I called a local bank and they said they have a loan for my needs, they even said that I would qualify for low rates and have fees of 2-3 points depending on the loan amount.

Installment note terms:Principal sum today: $1.05mInterest rate: 5.1% for the life of the loanAmortization: 25 years (so about 22 years left)Prepayment penalty year 1 (this year) - 5%Prepayment penalty year 2 - 4%Prepayment penalty year 3 - 3%Prepayment penalty year 4-8- 1%One and only balloon of $26K due December 1, 2019.Simple due on sale clause.

Education and risk control...and a spinoff from the education is more risk control

Today i come home from work and its their key in my mailbox. 

@John Woodrich and @Bruce Runn  I ran across this discussion today while I was researching single family conversions to multifamily zoning issues.

Finish your education, get established in a career with a couple of years of employment and use that time to live the most frugal life style possible to save up the cash needed for the necessary DP and reserves.

Today I had another contractor in, notably less experienced, who all of 5 minutes walking through the house before commenting that I cant remove the walls I had knocked large holes into, as they "have to be load bearing" in his opinion.   

My day-to-day tasks include in-depth market research, pro forma compilation, product programming, etc.