Real estate is less volatile but also illiquid, and leverage can increase your returns but also make a downturn more painful.Show your wife that doing both is a smart and useful way to built a diversified portfolio.

Many are legal, some are probably not so legal, some are probably specifically prohibited - so for sure you need to speak with an attorney about your strategy before you dive in.If my memory serves me right, it's what armando built his first guru program on - maybe it was his hair, or his smug attitude, or it was just him... but everything about the "subject to" thing rubs me the wrong way.The entire concept, i believe, really is way beyond a basic or straight-forward deal, and also puts your client in a fairly precarious position where the note could get called at basically any moment, and if they can't pay off the note (which they can't, hence the agreement to the subject to) they just defaulted and are now facing foreclosure - In fact, I witnessed this exact situation today on a $12mil note that got called in UT county.

My thinking is that even though I won't be getting a great return (5-6%), I'll have 100% equity that will allow me to easily secure loans in the future.  

If the rent check(s) are returned NSF, there is a $50.00 fee. 

This will allow you to obtain a healthy return in the future years if you do not plan to work and would like additional income.

What matters is (A) how sophisticated is your buyer pool, (B) what are discount/return expectations and (C) state of the market. 

The return on your cash is the first deduction you must account for off the top of your rental income.

When tenants move and I return security deposits, should I divide the deposit equally among the tenants and write a check to each tenant and give an equal amount?

With all that this property still produced an 89% cash on cash return.

As a lender one of the biggest mistakes I see on a weekly basis from my investors are tax returns that are simply to aggressive.