It was a total scam with no end in sight!

It's great that you're setting your sights high.

Just great principles to live by for building wealth. 

Those options are better for seasoned investors who can be loose with the numbers.In any other context besides real estate, why would someone buy something sight unseen, never having visited the area, with no known contact for oversight of the investment, and expect it to do well?

If it allows you to withdraw without jeopardizing your deposit within a set time and you still can, then do so.If your walkthrough found something off but you still want to buy, see if the inspection offers some opportunity for negotiation and use that.If the appraisal comes back less than asking, a lower price may be required to get financing.And until you have the experience, don't offer on properties sight unseen unless you really want to face the challenge.

Then I use principles like the One thing's focusing question, and Pareto principle to get into my more immediate actions needed.What process do you have in place to follow up and check progress of said goals?

I started out just trying to get more information on what it takes to get into RE investing, but found myself looking at properties and running numbers and suddenly i have a fourplex in my sights that im going to check out in person this monday!

I would have thought you'd want to reduce your principle to reduce interest payments to the bank ?

Specifically I  (with my husband and business partner and two little girls)  am on the path to early retirement through my business and interested in the buy and hold strategyIt kind of feels like a needle in a hay stack to me right now - as I am not familiar with areas etcI would love to know about challenges others may have had trying to do this, tips We are happy to come over and do some boots on the ground searching, living in areas etc as opposed to buying sight unseen, but obviously flipping etc is not on the cards for us. 

Surrounding neighborhood homes (not condos) of same 3 bed/2 bath and size (1948 sqft) are in the 250-310k range.Original list price: 239k; Current list price: 225k (110 days on market); Possible purchase price: 210k but let's use 220k for the numbers.Purchase: 220k20% conventional loan, down payment: $44k + closing costs = $48,400Monthly principle & interest payment: $840Property taxes: $250HOA: $185 - covers all exterior, pool, and landscaping.Insurance: $60Total monthly expenses: $1,335Estimated rent is $1,600 (maybe higher).