Keeping houses not bought as renters then using them to rent is a very common mistake, it almost never works out, yet people get emotionally attached to these houses and will go through mental convolutions to rationalize holding them unprofitably.

I see mostly emotional response on this thread. 

Also try to raise your income to save even more and after a few years of being disciplined with savings and the income + principal pay down from your rental you would be surprised how nice your personal balance sheet can look.

In theory if one's risk was constant and they were simply seeking to grow at a sustainable rate in the absence of emotional reasoning do you feel like growth would still be stunted simply from a scale perspective trying to grow that much wealth as quickly?  

How can I wholesale a couple of them to build my cash reserves.. etc, etc.If you are looking at only one deal at a time you will get emotionally attached to that deal ....

Real estate  is definitely an investment strategy where emotions can take over rational thought very quickly.  

I would say one of the hardest parst that needs to be considered is the costs of moving that many people so much as well as the emotional stress on the kids bouncing around schools.

Hey Pat, sorry you had a bad experience, and I am glad that you have found a release for your emotions, but we might be getting a bit spammy. 

First, I knew it was a pre-foreclosure so I knew there would be a lot of emotion involved.

Except for the evictions, the homelessness, the physical and emotional stresses on the tenants, the social problems associated with rootlessness, the cost to the local community and state when people who were paying their own way suddenly can't afford food or medicine...these are just some of the results of housing insecurity.