I also did a video interview with Jacob Rappaport that is about 36 minutes on YouTube that is phenomenal and he talks about the pros and cons of different set ups. it changed the way I structured my rental business and I have watched it several times since doing the interview with him.

That's right—we haven't seen rates like this in over a YEAR.And here’s more great news for buyers...the market has more properties available than this time last year, leading to a slight drop in median prices.Now is the time to make moves.

I've been doing some direct marketing here in the Sacramento CA area.

The landlord insurance market in Houston, particularly Harris County, has become more challenging, leading to fewer insurers and higher premiums.

In the current market, that would be tough to do at anything over 75%.

I did think about perhaps offering to rent to them for a specified amount of time at below market value (enough to cover the taxes) till they can get things figured out.I want to do everything I can so not to come off as a prick.  

Typically, when rentals have been on the market for that long here in Columbus, it's because they're asking too much for rent. 

Did you do the market research?

Find an investor-friendly real estate agent in the market you want to invest in because a typical realtor is not as familiar with how to evaluate the potential of a property for investment purposes.

You asked about the risks and benefits of using leverage in real estate investing.The reality is leverage cannot be avoided, usually, in real estate investing.The risks are you get over-leveraged and your don't have enough cashflow and reserves to weather a market shift, extended vacancy, or major repair.The advantage is you increase your ROI by using other people's money and as little of your own money as possible.