Track everything you are responsible for and review that regularly look at them in an effort to reduce expenses and possibly increase your income.In the begining, just do what is average for that subject neighberhood.  

So if you and I owned the same value of real estate, You'd be taxed on your regular income first and then still pay the same property taxes I do.

Of course you have to monitor your mileage and carry better insurance than owning an older car out right.

You'll pull mortgage records for the last X amount of days, and look for regular people's names versus say Wells Fargo. 

Having a regular job provides a ton of benefits unless you just totally hate it.

I understand this situation would apply only to people who can't deduct passive activity losses against their regular income, but I have to imagine that's a very large group on Bigger Pockets.

Many investors plan on refinancing on a somewhat regular schedule, based on the performance of the property, resetting the 20 or 25 year amortization period every time.

I'd like to thank everyone who regularly contributes to these forums.

I would be much more focused on getting a really solid 4 unit with little or no deferred maintenance in an area where you can get great tenants and maybe increase the rents regularly than I would on whether it generates a little positive cash flow with only 3 units rented.How much have you spent in rent while searching for the perfect deal?

,Since W2 employees get taxed BEFORE they get their money, you're kind of up a tree on this one.You'd do better to find a way to pay yourself from your deals thru an S-Corp so you can control how much of it is actually salary (earned income) versus dividend (regular income).