Just got in the investing game myself (wife and I are doing a live in flip) and it's a ride!

A few weeks ago after a Lyft ride (I'm a driver) with a super smart and savvy fellow I had an epiphany and caught the real estate bug.

Once he gets everything in place, however, Scott basically just takes a boat ride every once in a while and then gets paid at the end - which is pretty cool way to generate income that I haven't seen on these forums till now.In real estate investment, most people refer to income from Rental Properties as 'passive income'.

If you have a fully amortized loan and are highly leveraged you can still ride out the storm of an economic downturn.  

Execute, let it ride, learn something, and repeat.

I understand that there are many people here who praise this and hail that wholesaler as a god in the business doing what he should be doing. 

Both are determined on market variables that are ultimately out of an individual's control.Generally speaking, appreciation rides on overall supply and demand, where as cash-flow is based on cap-ex, vacancy rates, in addition to supply and demand which determines rent price.I suppose the difference might be in the short term, a cash-flow property MAY be secured via a 12-month lease to thus lock-in rent, but beyond that there's no guarantee of cash-flow, never mind the possibility of what could go wrong in the interim.

I once had a mobile car detailing service buff and pimp his ride in the parking of his broker's office ... right in-front of the board room window during their weekly sales meeting.

Rate hikes of .25-.50% really start moving the needle in terms of high-end homes payment cost. http://www.businessinsider.com/housing-starts-and-...I think we will see this as a roller coaster ride as rates climb every few months or so. 

Once every 15+ years we have a BIG one, but living here for 30 + years, other than a little hail damage on the roof --- knock on wood --- we haven't had much weather related issues....BUT, with that being said....we do make sure we have enough insurance to cover replacement cost and our insurance will cover the income missed for a year.