That's how I'm approaching this challenge, prepare as you mentioned by learning from others but then taking the leap and inevitably making a few mistakes of my own.Admirable and manly as this list of professional achievements is, there's nothing here about overcoming serious mistakes, about being laughed at, ridiculed, successfully taken advantage of, bankrupted, stripped of your illusions, broken on the wheel of life, and still finding a way to come back from shame and personal failure.You're going to need some of that, Gregory.

The illusion of “guaranteed rent” can be a mith.  

of course, but without the specific on the ground 1st hand knowledge of the situation, as it moves, you would be going into this with the illusion of clear sight...and in reality, blind as a bat.  

I would advice keep a security camera in house to record the entire activities in home and prove tenants that it is their illusion.

Thanks I am thankfully under no illusions, if anything this seems like it will be a long journey that will keep me challenged.

Taking money out of your pocket and putting it into a rental, thinking you are getting higher CF is an illusion. 

I was swept away by the illusion that if I maintained good grades and went to college it would put me in the best position and I would set myself up for the best successes of life.

So for about a year now I’ve lived the illusion that getting into real estate investing is impossible for me in my situation.I’m a licensed contractor located in the Southeast Michigan (Canton, Livonia, Westland area).

Ill use 10% going forward.3.

Not no rehab.. and you don't get fake tenants and fake leases.. and payments on empty properties etc etc.. that gives you an illusion that your investment is safe .in my almost 2 decades of funding turn key this is the biggest violation of the public trust I have seen.. many get away with it for 2 to 6 months then go broke but this has been going on for pert near 2 years.. and now all these nice folks are learning that they were sold a bill of goods in many cases.