Persistence is a good thing, but on the other hand,  you don't want to get so attached to the idea of this house that you're willing to buy it at a disadvantage to you (like without seeing it, or if it needs more work than you predicted, etc).

Wish I could predict the future (or at least the real estate future)! 

If one of the 10 greatest investors of the last century doesnt think they can predict a correction, why do all of us then think we are Nostradamus?

I did not have one personally.. but if the banks feel their assets are under water vis a vi current values then they can elect to freeze them or call them.. but I am not predicting that anytime in the future.. but when you have others who feel when they get a heloc its like a 30 year conventional IE just make my payments and nothing can happen.. that is flawed thinking they just don't know what they don't know.

Are you saying that you are confident as a newbie that you will be able to predict the monthly income and expenses every month within $100-$200 (your cash flow)?

@Hadar OrkibiTo add to what @Ben Leybovich wrote, the main value of GRM is to predict what a property will appraise for in a 2 to 4 unit.

I've been in the biz since 2002 and pretty much predicted it all easily 1 year before the last crash, love to hear others thoughts on what we may see.

However, this particular unit was built in 1900 so I set aside more dollars each month than I normally would because of the age related repairs I predict I will need to make.

And I like the idea of diversifying - technology changes significantly every 2 years, whereas real estate seems like a much more stable and predictable sector.Curious if any of you guys have any thoughts on this?

The whole employment and credit profile is to predict whether they will be good tenants (pay on time, no problems etc)...