It's a loose goal but I like structure too.I've been successful with some single family flips but they are hard to come by (much less predictable in availability and actually beating out other investors) so I am considering some longer term real estate investing. 

The offer was low enough I couldn't really loose.

So even when I wanted to get my feet wet and offered full price, I'd still loose out.  

If you are vacant 1 month per property, which usually, when I inherit tenants they are bad and leave within a year, you loose $1000. 

If you get sued and loose everything you own, are you going to feel better because you only own 1 property?  

It also has loose/damaged siding, security bars on windows that need to be removed, earth-to-wood contact in the foundation and siding, leaks in sinks, windows that don't stay open, loose toilets.

Purchase anyway and learn from a mediocre deal (not loosing money of course)?

I would like to add, that when we serve a section 8 voucher holder a NTQ because of being late on co-pay, or other unpaid fees (repairs where they caused the damages), we also notify the section 8 housing authority.We inform the tenant of this, and let them know they may loose their voucher if they are evicted for non-payment or destruction of property. 

I guess the $10.00 clause would keep the towel bar fell off the wall.and the door knob is loose calls down but I tend to weed those tenants out at the initial showing..

REI has historically been very competitive.Cash is not king in real estate investing...deal flow is (lots of it).If you don't start now, you will have no experience or relationships if a correction occurs.If a correction occurs, lending/capital sources can dry up.Investors over-estimate their ability to pull the trigger when prices are crashing and there is no end in sight.If you can generate even a small positive IRR from real estate during an economic recession, idle cash is the risky choice (and is very costly over long periods).All properties and markets will not loose significant value in the next down cycle (real estate is local and good locations will always perform well).Investors can add as much or more value to a property than the potential loss of value in a downturn.If we have capital that we have to put to work, prudent real estate can be the flight to safety.I don't like investing into a hot market but sitting on the sidelines for years is not a viable strategy...just have to be really careful.If you are a market appreciation only investor, ignore this post...that can require some market timing.Interested in everyone thoughts.