How important is cash flow when considering a property ?

[Ashish Massand]

Hello everyone! I am newbie to real estate investing and just started researching it. I have seen videos and blog posts discuss cash flow and the importance of 1% rule when analyzing a rental property. My question is if the analysis shows a small negative cash flow for e.g. 100-200$, should we be considering the fact that overtime, the loan is being paid off and my initial 20% investment is providing non-liquid returns in the form of building the asset (i.e. loan on the property is being paid off and i am increasing my "ownership" in the property ? Should we use that to pursue on for a property that might have a negative cash flow ?