It's emotionally taxing.

Investing isn't an emotional decision, if cash flow isn't positive, appreciation not what it was, market possibly reaching a peak... all good signs to that you could be in some real trouble down the road.

I listened to the book during my drive and it really breaks everything down into numbers and strips out the emotion and hope, which I think you'll need in order to actually be that one of 50...For me, personally, the hardest part is the passive-ness.

It is a liability in that a raid and an arrest followed by temporary detainment until they figure it out is still enough to ruin ones career.

I am a lender however I do not have any options for non owner HELOC's however Red Canou Credit union is one of the few CU's that will do 80% lines of credit (LOC) and term loans @4.99% (temporary promo) on investment properties.

Maybe a temporary ban for 7 days then 30 days and lastly a life time banned..

Buy and hold rentals seem like they offer a great ROI (maybe even better than stocks) with the added benefit of not being as vulnerable to temporary 30%+ drops in value.

Daria,i am a General Contractor, they will have to support the existing structure with some temporary posts or beams while they break out and fix the floor, that is part of why it will run you some money.

One suggestion I'll make, however, is not to let emotions guide your decisions, especially when you're living in a unit that will eventually become a rental or a flip--unless you make the decision consciously and are willing to, for example, spend an extra $1000 to tile an apartment bathtub surround because you really want to have tile while you live there, knowing that you won't recoup your investment as a rental.  

To elaborate on soft costs, that would be things like architect fees, permit fees, tap fees, insurance costs, interest costs, temporary utilities and utility consumption.