Actually the criminal will have more practice then you and use it against you.Weapons are NOT just knives and guns.Your belt, jewelry, keys, pens etc. can all be deadly weapons if you know how to use them.

I'm a hands on GC so I wear my tool belt daily anyhow.

So don't worry about the heat, especially on a gas fireplace that most likely will have a blower.

"Strategic default" they called it.Once you get a dozen deals under your belt, THEN you can trade on your good name and the reputation you have built to get better terms.  

I'll rent out the bigger space for higher rent since I'll move out in a year or two, and do the same thing again, but have a rental property with two units already under my belt.

That keeps us out of the rust belt scenario.Staying with marketable properties, out of the declining neighborhoods you can bank on appreciation in such markets.

No real estate deals under my belt, but I had been learning the market I was going to invest in for half a year.

Sun belt is the way to go IMHO.

Strategies that have absolutes are often blind to their ever changing environment, like the rust belt states that never changed their main economical source of income from manufacturing.If an area is declining I would want to sell and get into an area that is increasing.

I and many of my farm boy friends all carried Buck knives (or some other brand) on our belts in school.