Looking for a buy/hold in Raleigh & surrounding areas but finding it hard

[Mike Moore]

My wife and I work a lot and have one rental property, our prev home. Looking into getting another (and more) buy/hold SFH, duplex, or maybe town home (though they don't seem to appreciate as much as SFH). However, with these prices, rates, rents, and market strength it seems unlikely to find one that can cover the expenses (much less 1% rule) and maybe get some cash flow to save for future expenses. Maybe I'm looking at this wrong. Would welcome any advice as I'm essentially a newbie in this new world market.

[Pat Lulewicz]

Very challenging to get Y1 cash flow. If you can find a Y1 breakeven property, you've found something great. The way to work around this is reduce your invested capital and buy something that needs significant work, force some appreciation over a year, and refinance that into a rental loan (BRRRR) so that you can recycle that capital into your next deal.

Alternatively, use the 3.5%-5% downpayment to buy in a location that would be conducive to MTR and STR strategies. This will most likely remove all townhomes given the HOA restrictions on lease length. Once you satisfy the living requirement, try one or both of these strategies to supercharge your rental income...yes, it will take some more work on the front end to set up the furniture, processes, etc. Once you've got that taken care of though, its just a bit of customer service on a weekly basis.