You have to make sure your info (ARV, Renovation costs, holding costs,etc) is rock solid.  

With that set up you might even get separate Credit cards for each rental and tie CC, Bank and Rent Deposit, Mortgage, HOA etc together by a rental X mint account.This would reduce any weekly account tagging in mint and produce a separate Mint produced Spread Sheet for Tax CPA or Turbo Tax. 

wouldn't landscape rock be a better solution you can always combine them with pavers  The artificial grass is expensive and gets extremely hot .

then your probably not ready... you need to have some tools in your tool belt.one thing you could do is study and pass your local RE estate exam for your license and go work for a top producer  earn whilst you learn

It won't produce great opportunities to buy but it will show you a constant stream of properties that are being marketed in your target area.  

Love learning how others are rocking their REI game!

I have been looking for a market where Multi-family properties produce good results (say maybe 1.5 %) where at least 1 unit will pay the principal/interest and tax.

Hello BP,Just following up to see if anyone has any good contractor recommendations in the Quad City area (Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Bettendorf) . 

I think people tend to look at real estate investing as this glamorous rock star business, when really it's just doing deals consistently, even if they are small assignments for 5-10K.

Just like you would have to produce if applying for a long.