We've had many oil/energy related jobs lost, so there has been some buy opportunities/foreclosures.  

Some tenants refuse to allow you to show an apartment when they are moving, causing one month in lost rent.5. 

@Andrew Sampino  You lost me way before the expenses or vacancy rates. 

Vacancy is lost revenue and CAPEx is just as it reads a Capital Expenditure (comes from retained earnings ... a "below the line" item).

If the oldest is going to get his own room before college, I need to replace the lost Airbnb income with something else.

PC has lost 25% of all [public school students, closed 4 schools and fired over 100 teachers due to lack of housing. 

Hi Andrea,Just wanted to chime in quickly with my 0.02 Australian cents.You have received some great advice from the prior folks that commented and here is mine :)We have done so many deals in Toledo that I stopped counting at 500 lolOne thing that we have not yet figured out is "contractors".We have lost millions to these folks and experience has lead me to believe that it's just the "cost of doing business" in this market.So many just like you have tried to do flip from afar and have done so very unsuccessfully (Many come crying back to us and begging for help).The others tend to have delay after delay with big over-budget costs just to complete the job so it would have been better paying full asking price for an already renovated property.I know of only a few investors doing it well and even they still have someone on the ground that is pinching pennies from them (No where near to the degree of what some contractors do so I guess you could call it a "win/win")Spend more time conducting due diligence on building a team you can trust rather than focusing on the various areas/zip codes.Visit the market multiple times and "shake hands/kiss babies" by meeting with as many people as you can.You need a real estate agent, property manager, contractors, maintenance person, attorney, accountant, title company and mentor just to name a few.Nothing comes quick and easy in life and neither does investing in real estate successfully.Finding the above folks could take you years but don't rush because there is nothing to miss out on in my opinion.The Midwest (Especially Toledo) tends to be a boring and slow moving market.Thanks and I hope my comment helped.I wish you much success

I guess i'm lost in what I want to do in real estate investing and how to get this what seems to be, massive ball rolling to gain momentum.

Took some unnecessary risks and I lost EVERYYYYTHING. 

You will find amazing advice and insights in here, just as you will encounter forumalic uninspired regurgitations or methods that lost their sizzle a decade ago.