I spend my day analyzing dozens of long term buy and hold multi-family rental properties available on the MLS, and although I have found several diamonds in the rough, I have began to see that deals are rather scarce.

Sometimes it’s the best $500-$750 you spend.

If I was audited, I can prove I claimed all my income on my taxes.The only payment method that cannot be traced is cash, provided you receive it as cash and spend it as cash.

Before spending money on an attorney, I think it would be wise to submit a claim to the title insurer unless the matter is clearly and indisputably excluded or excepted from coverage. 

Bookkeeping (tracking financial spending and receiving) - needs to be detailed oriented, not necessarily a CPA [$ or $$]2.

But, spending a year or two learning and researching is probably the best thing you can do before jumping into an investment.Good luck with it!

Also,  dont spend every last dollar you have for the downpayment,  have a reserve. 

The first thing would be to spend time learning about potential markets and submarkets you would be looking to invest in.

If you don't know the answer then you need to spend your time learning the answer. 

This property manager sends the check with a breakdown of every dollar that they had to spend on the property that month.