At the same time, you can be improving your personal finance position to have a solid foundation for investing and taking calculated risks. 

The pros are that I'm very familiar with finding quality deals.  

im thinking of buying a house that uses gas.sidenote: im the type of guy who can live in a cold house. i just need a lil hat and some a warm joggers. ill even go as far as wearing long johns. f that heat. a better alternative is to buy yourself a crypto miner. them things make so much heat. theyre just loud. too loud.Gas is critical for 2 things these days: larger tankless water heaters and higher quality stoves.

Dave Foster is right - value is definitely in the cash flow and leases with high quality tenants.Nothing wrong with going direct investment route either.

Just make sure you are comfortable that even when the economy declines you are still in a comfortable position should you have to take that property back.Lauren Prichard, CEOAborn Powers/Aborn Homes

While I personally rely on this position, please note that I am not an attorney, the foregoing is my opinion, and the laws applicable in your State should be reviewed.I welcome replies from those with a different understanding of the law, or from states with notably different law.

For someone that's not as conservative, or a different view on the next recession, they might have a different opinion than me on all of this2) Sponsor quality check: (takes about 45 minutes per deal)I believe that a great sponsor can take an average looking deal and make it great, and that in mediocre sponsor can take a fantastic looking deal and make it bad (especially if there is a severe recession).

Are you in a position to get a HELOC on one or more of your properties?

@Bruce Scannell - If you PM me I will send you a quality introduction.

It depends on the age, current condition of the property, and quality of tenants.5.