When planning the renovation, make decisions with resale in mind, not just personal taste.

This is especially useful if there is no clear vision or you want to save time.On the other hand, if you have taste and experience in renovations, you can do without a designer and invest the saved money in more practical things: high-quality furniture, equipment or amenities for tenants.I would consider a compromise: order only a concept layout from a designer, and do the implementation yourself.

Plan/intentions:After getting a taste of how lucrative real estate investing is, I am committed to doing it long term.

That said, I don't have extravagant tastes for the most part, already own pretty much anything I've ever wanted to own, and have medical care costs already figured out which is the thing that can bankrupt a lot of people as they age. 

Marcus, I’ve seen the same thing — champagne taste, overdue rent.

Comfort with Transition:One option could be to start with a 10–12 unit property as a bridge — enough to taste the differences in operations without diving into the deep end.

This one kinda fell into my lap and gave me a taste of what mailbox money feels like, and now there's no turning back. 

The fact that the sponsor can unilaterally convert the notes to equity furthers that bad taste.  

That was my first taste of the blackhole. 

Some of the name calling and insults is probably going to leave a sour taste with a lot of people on here especially a new investor who's looking for help and empathy.