Our expenses are about $1,400 monthly (plus the occasional oil fill up).

Kitchen is basically useless and cannot wash dishes in the tiny sink.

My wife has experience in residential design (and she has been the sole designer and occasional GC on the remodels on our last three homes).Goals:  I pulled some equity out of the market and thought we would use that buy maybe 1-2 single-family homes here in Dallas and see how we liked being actual landlords.  

Occasionally I will dip below that when buying a lot or get a lot above that when saving up for a big purchase but it gives you a rule of thumb.One other thing I would caution about is make sure you have lots of liquidity just before and for 6-12 months after a big purchase.

Occasionally it'll load more but may take two or three loads.

@Christian Bateman A few years ago these were much more common but you can still find the occasional deal like this.

Let's assume our strategy is to focus on the purchasing of distressed properties, fixing them up, and then renting them out, with the occasional flip every so often.

They get paid to package, present and occasionally facilitate closing a loan. 

We also do occasional rehab tours of ongoing house flips, so you can see real deals in progress.Seize the day!

But, if you occasionally do need to back out, try to back out of the deal that will cause the least repercussions to your reputation.