Starting out obstacles

[Preeti Kale]

New to investing.. have been following bigger pockets for couple weeks and been blown away with the amount of content they have. 

I started looking at deas in my home town(Charlotte, NC). Single family or 2-4 unit multifmaily. I analyzed 3-4 deals but I'm getting negative cash flow. i need help with two things:

Property range - 200K-300K, 20-25% down will be from the HELOC loan from my current home, which will be at 10% interest. The rest 200K-225K will be loan at 6.5% interest. In the area, Im looking to buy the rents are anywhere between $1700-1900 for a 2 bed home. When i analyze the deal I'm getiing negative $300 without putting in the cost of HELOC Laon. I'm I doing anything wrong here ? Is everybody putting money down out of their pockets?

Should i change my location and see if i can get 2-4 unit deals under 200K? as a newbie do you suggest me going out of state?

Any suggestions/advice and help from this forum will be greatly appreciated

Thanks 

Preeti

[Preeti Kale]

Quote from @Sheri Fluellen:

@Preeti Kale, I feel your pain!! I've been investing for many years and often it's hard to find something cashflowing on the front end.  Don't be discouraged!!  Some simple things to think about- can you charge back utilities to tenants?  This has made the different on some of my properties.  Can you start with one of them as a furnished rental?  This has significantly increased my income (although there is an additional learning curve). Can you create another unit somewhere- like in a basement or create a large bedroom into a small efficiency?  Be creative and that helps!

@Sheri Fluellen: Thank you so much for your reply Sheri...by back utilities do you means HOA fees? as you know the HOA is killing the deals in our area. 
True.. being creative and adding value to the property will help tremendously in this market, as it is so hard to find deals with equity anymore