The key for us was baby steps.

It looks like you are in Irvine -- Just 1 trip / year will wipe away all of your potential profits.I'm certainly no RE guru, but I have had some luck/success with managing my units remotely from San Diego.Wish you all the best.

I looked into couple of markets and the highest performance ones are either over saturated or the good deals have been wiped out.

I am often in the position of advising friends/peers what to do after the fact - a 12%-15% max return with the potential for a 100% wipe-out just isn't a good risk return ratio, imho. 

All it will take is one drunk group to wipe you out.

Just finished listening to BP episode # 527, in which Pace Morby talks about how lenders could wipe out people’s debt-to-income ratio on their previous mortgage if it was serviced. 

The BK wiped out her debts, so yes her score can bounce back in months. 

Historically most single family homes end up having repairs that wipe out a lot of the cash flow anyway so I would invest in the area you know Aurora, at least you will reap the reward of appreciation for your hard work!

My 2 rental properties end up with a net profit after subtracting the following from total revenues:-Depreciation (houses were bought at $12xxxx and $16xxxx so this is not substantial)-Mortgage interest-Property tax-Utilities (I pay tenant utilities)-Maintenance/Operating Expenses for the year (Any handyman repairs, quarterly pest control services)Despite these deductions I end up with approx 10-20K in NI on paper (high cap rate).Hence why I am exploring wiping out this remainder via the Section 179 depreciation available if I can show business use between the multi-family property I own/live in and the 2 rental properties that are out of state.I work from home, so any personal use of vehicle is only on the weekendsYour help is appreciated. 

and in those if you charge too much judge can award treble damages and or wipe out the note entirely if they feel you have acted in bad faith.