I failed to factor in capital expenditures (aka improvements over time, not just maintenance) and property management.

ANY business that takes Capitol to grow will fail when forced to grow faster than the available Capitol will allow.

Many newbies think that Rent - PITI = cashflow, and thats the fastest way to fail in this business.

Ann is right that if you don't do your research, a larger unit will hurt more if it fails.

Stop making excuses, start taking action- Are you going to fail?

Repeated response to a previous post: Yes lots of opportunities here - you should attend some of our auctions - look it up on my profile - last week an investor netted $12,000 on one flip property - was in for $60,000 and flipped it for $72,000 - all within 3 weeks - 4 more weeks to settlement and he walks with $12,000 (no rehab, no need for a loan, no HML and no ownership, no agents, no title companies and no settlement cost).At 74 now, I have been here in Baltimore investing for 48 years - my friend Ned Carey was one of my protege.We are now going deeper into commercial development - finishing a 11,000 sf tavern on North Charles Street - (finished cost about $1.4MM) should be open in a few months.

that way if something goes wrong you only loss a "finger" and not your "hand"Cross Collateralizing is typically the first world you hear when failed investors start telling you their story.   

Since it was so minor with no permits and would only take a few hours, I failed to get a contract signed or even ask about his insurance status or anything to that effect. 

I failed hundreds of times while improving.

If the asset fails to produce, the debt is still the bad part that will bankrupt you (i.e. see student loans again).