After being burned by a PM before, I also now have an organized list of questions during screening and I review every contract in detail.

@Cassidy Burns I agree, I think house hacking is by far the best strategy in this area when you are just starting out.

Never allow tenants to have any wood burning stoves or fireplaces.

You will need the full amount ready to go up front because you'll be burning through checks once you start.   

@Daniel Weber I've killed probably 5 oil burning systems in my Maine multi-unit buildings and replaced them with heat pumps.

I'd hate to see a fellow investor get burned once locked in.

After having recently being burned by a tenant that didn't pay the last months rent I decided to raise my security deposits.

Marion County in Florida made my attempt to officially add a bedroom a nightmare burning up months of my time and causing me to miss opportunities to rent it until we hit winter and everything got worse and worse with the economy.

@Sean DotsonThese are typically funds with a lot of money to burn and based on them buying 1,000’s of them I am sure their models will show they will end up making some money and with their cost of capital so low they can pay these types of prices

Bidding up the price just to win is a sure way to lose.The market hit a peak last year and people are still throwing cash into investments like the money is burning a hole in their pocket.