I think a critical element that I'm currently knee deep in trying to figure out for myself is making that key connection that can be your window into the process first hand, and offering a piece of the deal in exchange for that one on one support is a fantastic idea.

Leverage is essential especially when you are scaling your business.

If you’re looking to place money passively into a real estate deal, it’s important to know how much you need to have budgeted for different strategies, so lets start off with the smallest buy in to the largest.1- Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)At the smallest investment level you’ll have a real estate investment trust, or a REIT.REITs are essentially huge portfolios of properties that you can invest in even through apps nowadays that help you get started for as little as a few hundred bucks for a private REIT.Private REITs are actual private real estate holdings as opposed to a public REIT which is traded on the stock market.Public REITs are not actual investment in real estate, they’re investments in stocks, so really there isn’t a pricing barrier here just like you can invest almost any amount in another stock, you can do the same here.

Yes, it's possible to get bad tenants in any class of property or neighborhood, but you reduce your chances of that significantly by investing in better areas, Good property management and tenant screening is also essential.

The US dollar is at risk and the element of cash reserves essentially losing value should be beginning to factor into long term investment strategies.

Yes, technically the escrow is for taxes and insurance, but in reality it's a checking account.In the event that you refi your mortgage, that escrow balance comes back to you because it is essentially your money held at the mortgage holder's office.When I'm doing accounting, I transfer the escrow portion into a separate "checking" account. 

@Alec McGinnMake sure to use the @ with my name so I get notified :)A Superhost is essentially a really really good host.

I did a walk through prior to listing so I am up to speed on the condition and it's essentially move in ready, I will have it professionally cleaned prior to turnover and there's one discretionary thing I might have done. 

It's essential when starting out to ensure your books are in order and set up correctly. 

This essentially sets the bidding minimum.