The key is understanding what creates the potential. Leveraging speculative properties like fix/flip, land, development or anything where you are trying to buy low, sell high is a recipe for disaster. Those should be cash deals. The stories I hear about personal bankruptcy in real estate involve over leverage by an under capitalized investor, limited or no due diligence and speculation on appreciation or lease up rates. Using Dave Ramsey is a good example. He didn't go bankrupt with buy and hold rentals, he went bankrupt with short term financing on speculative deals where he signed personal loan guarantees. When the loans came due, he couldn't cover the principle and was forced into personal bankruptcy.

Long term fixed rate leverage on stable income properties with proper due diligence is a different story. It is an effective way of increasing returns. Using non-recourse financing takes personal bankruptcy off the table. Admittedly my view is skewed due to past performance.

That is a smart choice for a hands off investor. It takes time and discipline when investing in income properties. I follow a similar approach in my retirement accounts. I even park excess capital reserves from my income properties in an S&P 500 Index ETF.