I am looking to jump into RE, and would love to pick your brain.

You pick up the slack from your own savings when something goes wrong.

Then after collections, no one pick up the cans for days, The irony is the garbage fits in one can for each type if you rent to young people with little garbage to start with. 

Surely if you do nothing for the next 18 years, your kids will be ready to go off to University and you will be faced with some decisions that may have been made easier if you started 18 years prior.I am paying for my kids university studies 65k a year for two.I was fortunate enough to pick up properties shortly after 2008 that appreciated enough for me to sell when they were ready to go to university.

My point is that it is not cheap and it can be slow (but that may be a function of picking a poor abatement company, the second company was much faster than the first).As for the roof, I suspect that the repair can be cheap (possibly not needed) but the buyer would not be responsible. 

Then I went ahead and picked a date and location before throwing it out on meetup, Facebook, and BP.

They're going to call my attorney and try to pick his brain for an hour.

Any thing I have gained I have used to pay off a rental and pick up a new one.

I’m planning on picking up a cash flowing 4 plex in the next month or so.

While there are no immediate plans to refinance, the plan is to continue collecting the great cash flow and refinance if/when it makes sense and the market picks up in the town the duplex is in.