In my opinion, relying on third party financing is dangerous.

I sometimes find it easier to have a third party make my case for a lower/higher price with a buyer/seller than doing it myself.

Getting brokers to help in choice is impossible, and since deals are scattered all over the country, third party advise becomes inevitable.

Some nicks and dings certainly fall under normal or expected wear and tear, I would think in a neighborhood where it could be assumed that you might rent to a Christian tenant, that it would be reasonable to assume they might celebrate Christmas in a customary fashion and decorate the outside of the home for the season, where the wind blows and ice may form.

I'd pool the cashflow off the first property with the newly acquired property cashflow into your property savings account and maybe contribute some more money yourself and buy a third property with cash again in a year or two.

The third thing is that there is no air conditioning in the building.

I respect the first group, am neutral to the second group and dislike the third group.But, when you take wealthy vs poor people as a group, without knowing anything else, it is reasonable to suppose that the ones who are wealthy are, on the whole, more capable than the ones who are not.

Currently I have three properties (two are rental properties -condo in Hawaii and coop in Bronx - third is my condo in Alexandria, VA - that I am renovating and living in).

Some time sthey wait 90 days --and offer home owner to catch up before they file lien - so need to check day before closing --or take out that much from your offering price For IRS --if there is no lien in Title search --there are no taxes due--even if person ( owner ) did not pay taxes for two years --and IRS did not get around to file a lien-- they can not do anything --once you take over property--it is owner's personal responsibility --Third lien may be state tax or mechanics lien or some credit card company - that can be wiped out -- Is there a second mortgage ?

The only other no-no's that come to mind would be anything in a war-zone for obvious reasons, and anything that's under an HOA, since that involves ceding partial control over your investment to a third party that doesn't care if you make or lose money.