Not because we have a boatload of cash burning a hole in our pockets.

I've seen some of my clients get burned this way.

Had a ton of tire kickers in the past and find this weeds them out also ask for deposits on any properties so we don’t get burned. 

If they burned a landlord before, they will burn one again.Be kind, be understanding but be firm.

If you were burning fuel oil or coal or something like that stainless steel would be required but for natural gas you can use either material.

If you don’t, then you will crash and burn very quickly.Even with a good property manager, you are going to have to stay somewhere involved, especially in the early stages as you set up a system so that you can make sure your property manager is operating the way that you need them to.Also make sure to get a pulse on how the city operates where are you are investing.

I have no background in real estate but a burning desire to generate passive income. 

Millions upon millions of jobs lost "forever" ("exported" to the "third world"), more millions lost half or more of their retirement accounts, creditors slashed and burned consumer credit to the point where, by the banksters' own numbers, some 74% of Americans wound up with "bad" credit (it was only 47% before they did that), ...Now, add in the knee-jerk responses in the lending industry and you've got a situation where only the elite of formerly middle-class wage earners can even hope to qualify for new home loans.In fact, the given the current housing shortage (yet more fallout from the crash), it is ONLY the dearth of lending which is keeping home prices from launching into interstellar space by suppressing demand.

Burn them, and those deals go elsewhere.

But perhaps it is the thoughts and experience that matters the most; and maybe more so to hear the feedback or new ideas... or maybe just simply hear the voices outside the one in my head.I hope this is the right section to post this under, and I sure hope BP is the right place to finally share my story:=============================================================2008: While at UT Austin, the world crashed and burned.