Real estate investing is a pretty forgiving world and the average person can still make money even with some pretty big mistakes.

@Ben Feder it is really important to understand the micro market that you invest in because of course it is going to be different than the national trends and averages being talked about in the media.

I live nearby UWM in Milwaukee (53211 ZIP) so the duplexes on average are about 300k-400k right now.

Will the proceeds provide a minimal, average, or excessive amount of down payment. 

Once I interviewed all the tenants, I discovered that the average tenant stay in the entire complex was about 9 months.

is the average person/investor to do:(a) first not participate in speculation of prices and (b) brace for stagflation-that comes with a price correction of the housing market/s and the debt market in the coming mid-term time frame.

I won't touch SFHs or small multi's with less than $300/door average just because I have partners for most of my deals.

In truth the real reason is that they are likely to have a lousy rental history with poor credit and in that case our local gas companies require very high deposits for the new customers.I will often ask those who have resided in all electric properties what their average bills are and I will often hear upwards of $250 plus a month. 

I'm in the same process, about to sell two out of state rentals that have great equity, but average cash flow. 

As of right now, that is about average to what I would expect it to get on the open market.