I'd say if you find an experienced partner in the field and want to start directly into a deal yourself go for it, but if you'd like to learn from others, I think passively investing and learning while looking for deals (which are hard to come across the days) also is a smart strategy. 

How does it compare to direct mail and cold calling?

I know that was a ton of questions, but I appreciate any help you could offer either in answering or pointing me in the right direction. 

You can of course improve this general rule of thumb by:1) putting more money down to lower your monthly payment2) buying down your rate to lower your monthly payment3) get a cheaper insurance quote to lower your monthly payment4) use a different product with a lower rate for a lower monthly payment like a 5/1 ARM FHA5) if you're in a historic district you can apply for property tax exemptions which lower property tax and thereby lower your monthly payment like in Orange, Ca they have a Mills Act which reduces the property tax to about 1/10th of the surrounding properties.

Here is my situation, I started investing last August when I got 1 house, this month I am buying three houses.  All of these so far have been houses with tenants already in place and I am using a property manager. Thi...

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View report *This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.

Once again, thanks all for pointing me in the right direction. 

Agreed that Personal Capital would be easisest as the paydown would be pulled directly from your banks along with all other accounts.

Learn something new that you will be able to apply again and again.