The vinyl is the way to go with rentals, you can allow dogs, kids can eat, paint and make a mess, hvac and dishwashers can leak.

A Christmas card, congrats card for having a baby, married, etc. and we would send a gift card to one of our local favorite places to eat.

If the tenant moves out and leaves $2,000 in damages, the Property Manager eats the cost and goes after the tenant for the $2,000 owed.It's a numbers game that works in their favor.

I now take time to journal each day, mediate, exercise more often, and eat slightly better (Need to still be better here)!

@Justin Egge That is bad advice.

@Darius Howell Eat the Elephant bite at a time that means you would need to do all the things that you have mentioned in your post but you need to do it one at a time.

Here it is:20% for profit10% for sales costs like holding cost (2-3%), real estate commissions (5-6%) and closing costs (1-2%)total: 30%Deduct from 100% and viola - there's the basis of your 70% rule.For houses below $70K, your expenses like closing costs specially in expensive states like IL, can eat up a higher percentage of the ARV/ sales price.

I have a decent nest egg saved and and around $100K+ of liquid cash available for real estate investment purposes. 

Commercial can be tough to break into, as it is a chicken or the egg problem.

To give a little wiggle room, you can identify up to 3 properties as potential "replacements" so you don't have to put all your eggs in one basket.