re: For the posters "of a certain age", how have you found a balance in your life?

1. Are you or your buddy married? If yes, I would advise against the partnership since you may be forced to compromise somewhere down the road because there's a woman in the picture.

2. What's the money situation looking like and what price range are you guys looking at?

3. You could form an LLC(pretty cheap) to protect your personal assets. I didn't since I took out 300K liability for each of my properties.

4. Obstacles - negative cash flow is a big one. Make sure to do accurate calculation on monthly mortgage payment + expenses(taxes, insurance, maintenance, repairs). Other things to look out for: bad tenants(make them put down at minimum a month's worth of ten in deposit), vacancy, major repairs(roof, exterior painting, A/C)

5. Benefits: positive cash flow, earning equity monthly through tenants' rent, owning the property outright down the road(try to finance 15 years), depreciation on tax returns, getting monthly income when you retire.