This is a question we get asked on a weekly basis and I suspect most of the questions are coming up because of mis-information being put out by opportunists.  People who are selling get-rick quick ideas or promoting a shiny new idea or product as a quick-fix for new real estate investors.  When most of the questions are coming from a place of fear, you can almost always bet that bad information is the cause of the question.  For real estate investing, my answer is to ask a different question!