I came around to leverage, and my portfolio is about 35% leveraged these days, but I really missed the boat by insisting on paying everything off early. 

@Renee CossRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

We've analyzed the City of Detroit's 183 Neighborhoods and have posted hundreds of times here on BP that investors need to understand the Class of the Neighborhood that they are investing in, so their performance expectations will be met.DM us if you'd like to chat more:)

That’s when I realized out-of-state investing could be the best path forward, especially given our flexibility with remote work and plans to travel.Venturing into Airbnb ArbitrageSince I wasn’t quite ready to buy, I ventured into the Airbnb arbitrage space and purchased a master class to learn the ropes.

I can't think of any other asset class where you'll find gains like this.

Do you know where I can find information on the class of a particular neighborhood in the twin cities?

Class A/B Property - Duplex2bed 2 bath each unit with garages.

If it's in a class C neighborhood and you don't care about the exterior look and tenant doesn't mind it, give it to the tenant.

I know there are some people out there who do this and put an assignment in place to be recorded if the loan defaults.As with so many things in REI, there are multiple ways to skin the cat, and it has a lot to do with your level of risk and your partial investor's level of risk.I do teach a 4 hour live class on this. 

Hold a class at the local library, community college, or worship place.