Great read Wendy, as a fellow real estate investor, I'm with you 100%. It is great, but it is not easy. I've focused on buying properties below appraisal value to get my forced appreciation (rather than ones I need to fix up), and tha thas worked well. Finding a single family house that can produce positive cash flow after all expenses is not easy to do these days with such high asset prices, but that is the game we play!