Hey all, I was recommended to BiggerPockets.com by a friend, who frequents the site.Currently I am stashing away cash, to hopefully put down a down payment on a piece of property by the end of this year.

Fortunately, we've been able to stash away a nice amount of capital to get started and the deal I worked out while leaving is going to pay me for the rest of the year while we dive into REI full-time.  

So instead of dropping $1,000+ per month on your mortgage or rent, you can stash that money away to put towards your next property.

I have a pre-approval and some money stashed away.

I figure the monthly note would be around $200-250, and each unit would rent for around $350, leaving me around $500/month cash flow less what I would stash away for maintenance and other unexpected fees that might arise.The first property would have a note of around $300-350, and I figure would probably rent for $800 worst case, leaving me about the same cash flow, but without the safety of it still paying for itself at only 50% occupancy like the duplex would.

Also, I don't have 50k stashed away, some, but not 50k. 

He just needs a place" for a little while" until he "gets back on his feet."1 week later the cops are breaking down the door to seize his stash. 

The conservative way is to stash those funds into a separate bank account but invest it somewhere else if you can get a small return but can keep it liquid enough.

Working with an investor and he just needs a place to stash his money (1031 Exchange).

If the author stashes the cash in a CD earning an inflation-adjusted 0% each year, then the reserves will be exhausted at some point well before year 30, which is fine because cash flow from the properties is meant to supplement the reserves in the long-run.