Dawn Raye Cain

I have owned 3 rental houses (1 is a duplex) outright for 2 years. I started out learning from the popular 'no money down and you'll make millions' approach as I prepared to sell my ranch. I am so thankful that when I 1031'ed out of my drought-stricken ranch into rentals I did NOT follow that style of advice. I was able to make good house choices thanks to finding a Real Estate Broker who also invests in rentals and has a service-minded approach to his clients. I hired 2 different highly respected accountants at various times to get advice on real-estate investments, what a waste of money and contradictory advice! As I have gained experience with them and tried to learn as I go, the most helpful thing was to get on Amazon and do a thorough search for appropriate books. I carefully read reviews and came up with Frank Gavinelli's books and a Dummies book. I spent a good bit of time studying these and running APOD reviews of my various properties and others I was considering purchasing. My EA was very impressed at how much I had learned when tax time next rolled around. I am now wanting to move up to a position of 50% leverage overall and move some of my properties out of Texas' high property taxes and to an area of Florida that still has low prices. I use property management companies, but check them out online thoroughly and that they belong to a professional organization. This has worked well for me as I travel quite a bit.