Organization is key to maximizing your returns.best to you - Chris 

Sounds like unless I find a rich uncle, I'll just keep with hard money until my cash is built up and I don't need to borrow and can maximize profits.

Not sure if this is you but a lot of first-time house hackers I work with fall for this trap (including myself) in the beginning about trying to maximize financial return at ALL COSTS.Often avoiding the most important question of all, where do you want to live and would enjoy the most? 

So some means and methods that I will describe below might seem a bit odd or different and that is because we took the A&D approach to this project, even if there might have been simpler ways, because we wanted to expose ourselves to as much as possible, in as controlled of an environment as possible, so that we could minimize risk while maximizing as broad an experience as possible.

In what ways do people anticipate these events, and strategize to maximize their returns.

 #3 Maximize leverage (safely) - higher price homes/high rents give you high equity every month as tenant pays down your principal every month.  

I would like to try to have a diversified portfolio so my investment property is recession proof and accomplish all of this with minimum down payment so i can maximize the amount of investment property i can buy.Please any help or advice?

I already have a good realtor that has referred a few handymen / contractors but I don’t really know how to go about the process when I am still trying to figure out what house I want to purchase and how much the renovations will cost to make the house the way it needs to be to maximize rents / value.When I go to look at a potential house, shouldI ask a contractor to go with me to help he figure out what I could expect to pay for the renovation so I know how much the project will cost and therefore what my offer will be?

Realtors mostly focus on retail listings vs trying to maximize investor profits.  

Using that knowledge, I love the idea of focusing on reducing your expenses to maximize your savings.