If you don’t account for this upfront and a washing machine goes up, then the roof needs redone in 4 years, or the garage door needs replaced- that will eat into any cash flow you have built up for x amount of months.

I have always called it my "Real Estate ATM Machine" :)

You just have to have a marketing machine in place already.

I can think of a lot of other business's that would be more fruitful with that amount of debt.

I have heard of companies that will deal with the machines and the service and take a percentage of the profits every month.

With modern technology lenders and auditors are able to fully audit their loans using AI and machine learning -- rather than looking at a few percent they are able to analyze them all.

Just took a BP member and let him find out how much fun machine guns are.

A good camera or a new smartphone with a cutting-edge camera may trump the need for a laptop, but if you are seeking a laptop I personally like the Microsoft Surface Book - its lightweight, its got a touchscreen, it got a good battery and decent entry point for a decent machine. 

Of course we close on everything.. so I get the net listing or the desire to make more than a realtor makes.. but I don't know.. long term seems to me the same amount of marketing money used to build a brokerage in the long run my be easier and more fruitful. 

I have switched my model up recently and am only buying a handful of rentals a year that I can pay cash for and leave paid off, so I have developed quite the marketing machine in this area.