How do you expand your buy and hold portfolio?

[Brian Mathews]

I have gotten to the point where I now have a pretty solid plan on what kind of investment home I want to buy and the area where I will buy. Unless housing prices sky rocket in the next year I will have saved enough for a 20 percent down payment on my first investment property.

The first property seems easy to get. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their strategy for acquiring more buy and hold investment property. On paper it appears that if I continue my current savings and don’t touch the cash flow from my property I will be able to purchase a second property (after building a cash reserve) in approximately two years.

I have read about people acquiring a new property every year. I am curious about how this is done. Is it possible to do when you have to come up with a 20% to 25% payment every time you buy? I know there are other sources than banks (hard money…etc) but I don’t think I currently understand enough about creative finance to make it part of my plan. Any advice or recommended reading will be appreciated.