Your net worth will become immediately higher than many, many Americans who have been slugging it out in their 9 to 5 jobs for several years. 3) @Chris Masons  brings up a critical point => build wealth through diversification, unless you become so incredible at doing one thing and one thing only.

Thanks for the kind words, David...And you're exactly right -- being able to speak the language that contractors speak and understanding how they view the job is critical to getting good prices. 

1st time analyzing mobile home park and would like some critical review from anyone that’s experienced with this type of investment…Nine (9) unit mobile home park (seller owns mobile homes) located in the Charlotte NC area.Seller asking $379,000 (seller has agreed to carry $265,930 at 4.5% with 5 year balloon) 4 acre country setting – property is in very good condition.

There are more.The most concerning issue is that my handy man I have been using for several years now got pneumonia and is now in critical care.  

As a newbie, it seems like it is going to be critical to get that balance right between paying for quality, but not paying too much.

You don't really say what your current income, credit and debt situation is, and that will be critical to getting a mortgage on this property.

This is a critical point -- don't miss it -- unless dropping french fries into hot oil at McDonald's sounds like a good time.As long as your investment cash flows you've got income each month and then you can afford to wait for property values to turn around and ride the wave of appreciation up to the top.

This is why it is critical to make sure your numbers are solid.

Probably the other key factor is job growth, particularly in today's economic times, it's critical to driving housing demand; the Bureau of Labor Statistics is the place to find data to compare city to city and state to state.

I have been reading all across these forums and google, but I wanted to post my "to do" & "unanswered question" list for our resident experts to analyze and let me know what critical step I'm missing. 1) Get landlord insurance instead of home insurance2) Interview and find a good PM (Lynchburg, VA - anybody have a lead?)