As for the rate of vacancies, its hugely dependant on the area and class of properties again, and whether or not you want to deal with government supported tenants (what you call section 8 in the US)- for me, in Japan, its a no-brainer, since they're nothing like yours in the US, but if that's where you plan to invest, you'd better give this some thought - these tenants will fill up your vacancies fast, but come with a whole unique set of issues.Totally with you on the leverage front, wouldn't touch a mortgage with a ten foot pole these days, seen too many smart individuals and savvy companies (and I'm not saying this with cynicism) get very badly burned with assumptions regarding appreciation, depreciation and amortization - to think the GFC is a once in a lifetime event and will never happen again is the biggest (and dumbest) gamble of all, in my perspective.The amount of time you'll spend on each property, again, is a direct factor of the class of properties and areas you invest in, and the quality of your chosen team, in particular your property manager.

You get to close to the flame with the grey areas and you will get burned pretty bad.

That same thing (questionable valued deals) happens in all kinds of real estate deals you'll come across, but it's just easier for you to get burned if you are trying to invest nationwide.As you can imagine, there are buyers that are way ahead of us who cherry pick the most desirable notes.

Many investors have been burned by unprofessional vendors, and I think this would be a great way to help curb that possibility.

I have been burned twice in the past 4 months from people buying houses.

This forum is littered with overwritten action plans filled with motivation and goals only to suddenly vanish into obscurity.I'm not saying this to discourage you, I'm suggesting that you focus 100% of your energy on finding a deal and NOTHING else.

There have been investors, who were nice enough to buy a house in foreclosure and then rent it back to the prior owners, who got burned big time, when they had to evict for non-payment.

It was one of the worst weekends of my life and the experience left me feeling robbed of what would have been a perfectly good Saturday & Sunday.Trying to do this job yourself is one of the best ways to burn yourself out and waste an incredible amount of time that you could be spending on some much more productive activities.Trust me - this is something you need to start outsourcing pronto (and if you do it right, it'll probably be cheaper than the way you're trying to do it now anyway).www.Click2Mail.comIf you need a free video tutorial walking you through the ordering process - let me know and I'll send it to you.

(Sorry the formatting from the e-mail did not carry through) Helping Nicor Gas customers save energy and money with cash rebates, low-cost home energy assessments, energy-saving tips and more.

Around here, we work hard to get a cash-on-cash between 10 & 15% on a multi-unit (4+) ... but occasionally you find the right property and the right time ... we have one duplex that gave us 23% ... now, after a deep energy efficiency retrofit, our cash-on-cash is down to 18%, but the long term operating costs are more predicable and turnover should be lower.Purchase costs is the big factor ... if you find a property at <65-75K/unit, it will need a major capital injection before you can stabilise it.