I have had fires, I have been physically threatened, I have had wife beaters smash windows out, flooding, tornadoes, evictions for non payment - like real stressful problems.

What I mean is you either increase rent and pay the expenses or decrease rent and they pay the expenses.

I’ve got 5k for each unit in reserves right now which would cover most major repairs, but I’m not sure if I should keep that amount, increase or decrease as I grow.

But using leverage (let me stress) responsibly can allow an investor to “leverage” your cash to spread out your liabilities amongst multiple assets.

Labor costs in many areas of the country, especially in Charlotte, were at an all-time high before the coronavirus pandemic. Is now the time to push the reset button and get those labor costs down?Yes, I know everythi...

Again I do what to stress every property is in a flood zone and some properties (A or V designation) require lenders to have borrowers get a flood policy.  

For good or ill, you won't be able to escape it :) That may be stressful at times, but you will learn a lot and with less risk than if the project was further away.Many light rehabs on the market today are getting bid up by owner occupants looking for fixer-uppers too, by the way, so I wouldn't necessarily expect a lot of "profit" or "sweat equity" to be left after your efforts.Unfortunately, competitive bidding on such properties has squeezed a lot of the profit out of those deals.

The source of their stress/distress is gone and they have a chunk of change in their pocket.Now, there are ways to make deals work with low equity, but that's not the norm and is a whole different topic.

I can’t stress enough weather happens fast up here and I’ve heard stories of people being cleaned out due to someone injured on the property due to slipping on ice or paying for a new car and repairs because of some jerk plowing the driveway.

While our tax valuation went up, our actual taxes decreased (more valuation for the municipality without a corresponding increase in cost of services, reduces actual tax bill).The tax assessed value is just one metric to use for determining market value, but I wouldn’t rely on it for much more than a foot note.