This seems silly, but I have heard horror stories of investors who made this mistake and the property was foreclosed on because the old owner kept the cash instead of making payments.3) Make sure to get a very thorough title check and a title insurance policy.

The seller did the closing without an attorney, so this mistake was made.

Most successful investors however try to eliminate or lower risk by knowing and planning for every possible pitfall.  

If you can eliminate or cut that cost in half, it may be a much more appealing deal. 

You will learn the most by just doing it but you at least need to know what a good deal is.....confidence comes with experience...... it’s ok  to make mistakes...... maybe shadow someone or find an  investor  that needs help that you can learn from along the way

I like your tip about the short-term renters, too, by the way.It's still too early to say if this deal is a "failure" but I've already identified two things that I would do different: 1) I made the classic mistake of not knowing the market well enough and therefore might have unrealistic expectations about sales price 2) I might be being too impatient.

I believe that was eliminated with Dodd Frank.  

I made this mistake and it was painful.  

If you make even the smallest mistake in your paperwork, the courts can slam you with triple damages awarded to the tenant.  

My worry is that someone just made a mistake and I’m going to have a fat bill come tax time, or this will eventually bite me.