Guess I'll pull the trigger on one and use that back up plan you suggested Terry Evans if things don't pan out. 

In my opinion it depends on your situation,  if you buy a rental and your income from flips dry up can you afford to keep current on both payments?

That being said, this property has been a good starter for me to cut my teeth on, but I think it's time to move on to bigger and better things.I'm not ready to pull the trigger just yet.

Under California law, a parent can transfer title to a property without triggering a Prop 13 tax reassessment2.

To fix this I hired CT basement systems to install a warrantied system that will guarantee a dry basement and this transfers to the next owner as well.

Since I'm just starting out, I'm curious about other investor's criteria, when met, will make you pull the trigger immediately on a deal.

After that find one that makes good sense numbers wise anger pull the trigger.

If you are disciplined about only pulling the trigger on great deals, you will be fine in the long run regardless of if you buy at a cycle top or bottom ... just make sure you can afford to hold (through cash flow, W2, or some combo thereof) to make it to the long run.

Even buy and hold property deals are drying up.

In short @Melissa Searing, all concrete shrinks as it dries.