However, now that I'm raking up and scaling my business to higher levels I want to be even extra careful doing bigger deals.

Too much work and responsibility for a small landlord and restrict ability to scale up. 

I'm looking to scale a portfolio...managing the properties at a detailed level isn't part of that vision :P

The chance of having available cash for everything is difficult if not impossible when you scale your business.It does require a different mind set if your very conservative and like to pay off everything.  

In many markets, you have to have scale.

I would suggest going the small apartment complex route, more units give you better cash flow and the ability to scale at a much faster rate.

My suggestion is to sell all four investment properties and trade up to a larger multi-family property using a 1031 exchange and start realizing some economies of scale.

No matter where you live or where you own assets, I personally recommend the Series LLC to be a great tool for the individual investor who is planning to expand their operation, as it allows for you to scale infinitely for FREE- check out this article to learn more.4th pillar is somewhat similar - you want to separate your operations from your assets.

No matter where you live or where you own assets, I personally recommend the Series LLC to be a great tool for the individual investor who is planning to expand their operation, as it allows for you to scale infinitely for FREE- check out this article to learn more.4th pillar is somewhat similar - you want to separate your operations from your assets.

We were looking to have a more scaleable impact with our dollars, moving from single family investments to small scale multifamily.