My ultimate goal is to make Real Estate my next/last career (no, I'm not close to retirement) and to build steady stream of income that will provide the security and time to do whatever I want.I'm looking forward to connecting with fellow BPers (especially those in the Boston market) and continuing my education which I know will be life long. 

When a major expense occurs, I can easily sell the security and have cash to pay for the expense. 

Work it out and secure the place.  

You can get 10% on a note secured by real estate with a low ITV.  

By the sounds of it the equity you have in your current properties is a significant tool you can use to secure financing of some kind including a home equity line of credit or maybe a refinance.

All the books and articles you have read will give you a false sense of security making you think that real estate investing is safe.  

~verbatim"At least one borrower must occupy the property and sign the security instrument and the mortgage note for the property to be considered owner-occupied.

I have a friend in commercial real estate securities who says that the large commercial securities is starting to look shakey and residential tends to follow not far behind.I agree that a correction is coming soon, but I do not think that we will have the bottom fall out like we did 8 years ago.

The tenants also probably have a security deposit that you will be on the hook for when they move out. 

There could be some security with the hoa in regards to not getting killed with a sewer line or some other outside expense..old tree falling, earthquake damage.