I’m in college and don’t the have time or money to buy a property, but I want to educate myself and practice the necessary skills.I have been taking courses online and reading books about REI and I am looking for some advice on what I should be doing.

I know that i definitely need to practice my ability to analyze deals (something I’m working on now) and in addition i have a lot of work to do in learning how to plan and estimate rehabs.

Learn about vacancy, maintenance, turnover, etc and then practice doing the math on properties you find on MLS or Zillow.

You need to change your business practices not your tenant.Pay or quit notice is always posted the day following when rent is due.

I want to control my own deals.  

We bought a 5.5 million retail center in Texas and are now looking up to 7 million for the next one.Retail NNN STNL or MTNL you can get passive at for quality at about the 1.5 million purchase price or higher whereas multifamily you are looking at about 80 to 100 units and quality about 75k a door or more so about 6 to 7 million in price to be more hands off with management in place and layers of repair people.Syndication you can diversify but you lose control and are sharing returns with the sponsor.

I own or control over 200 properties.

I don't think you have taken into account the little things for maintenance like gutter cleaning 1 or twice a year, pest control if needed...i keep a termite bond on my properties etc.I'm not saying its not a good deal(I dont know) but I do know that your cost will be higher than what you have stated here.

Of course I know this number will vary and flucuate as life goes on, but as of right now I would only need 14 doors under my control in order to "Retire" :) I would like to get into multifamily investing, but I know at first I may need to start of small.

Using the refi as your normal business practice to purchase additional real estate is one of the defenses if it is called into question.