Do you have other ways to decrease your expenses or increase your income aside from real estate? 

🙌 I love your focus on helping others achieve financial freedom through real estate – that's what it's all about!

Quote from @Shawn Questa: Hi all,I am curious what some of the Pros would do to Help a Seller in this situation while making a Deal happen.I found a 200+ day old MLS Listing where the Agent said the Seller is in Financial Ruin, hasn't Paid the Mortgage in a year, owes about 180k on an approx. 210k House and multiple Buyers have backed out.I don't know how someone could not Pay their Note in a year and not at least be in Pre-foreclosure. 

@Tove Fox hope you find this copy & paste useful:)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend 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 property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

The rate might be .5% higher for the 30 year, but looking at it financially what if you took that $187/mo and invested it into the stock market at 7-9% returns? 

The only two ways to rectify this are (1) purchase the property far below market price or (2) significantly increase the property net income usually through some method of “repositioning”. 

I would make sure financially you have a good base and then connect with a local agent

Ensure you collect a proper security deposit (typically one month's rent in Florida) to cover potential damages.Your plan to increase rent next year makes sense given rising costs (taxes, insurance, and maintenance).

Meet with financial advisers/wealth managers and see what other options other than real estate there are and how to best allocate / diversify. ie have you maxed out your TFSA?

FYI, a Cost Segregation Study will "not" increase your chances of an IRS audit.