Always anticipate at least double the investment you think you'll need.

Also it's good to anticipate a LOT of questions at various times of the day whose answers range from "oh, I really should have thought of that"  to "WTF are you talking about? 

My one in the retiree town is still being readied for rent with an anticipated move in by the 1st.

So, I haven't experienced a downturn as someone with skin in the game.They always say, don't they, that the next recession is caused by the thing that people couldn't predict, didn't anticipate, or overlooked.

"Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost in corrections themselves." - Peter Lynch"I can't recall ever once having seen the name of a market timer on Forbes' annual list of the richest people in the world.

Or, if you want to get really creative, start putting together an investor pool in anticipation this thing goes down in flames - maybe there is potential to offer all the current owners cash for their units and convert this thing into an apartment building.  

When initially looking at a property I will build a table of anticipated repairs over the next 10 years or so.

Once you can anticipate what he says next as you are listening to the CDs, you are getting close.

That way my payment to them is almost double what I anticipate they are paying on their current mortgage. 

That said - it was time consuming, costly, and has put a lot of pressure on me to create opportunities to use it - which has me doing more retail transactions than I anticipated doing - good for $$, not great for time, good for experience.