Cash Flow is king, right?

[John Stark]

Seems like there are two methods which all the books, videos and articles put forth: Cash Flow and Appreciation.

Landlording seems to lend itself to the Cash Flow side of things, with possible returns several years down the road when the property has appreciated.

So take this property that I'm looking at as an example:

4-unit apartment selling for $209,900.
Currently fully rented for $580 each unit.

Now, I'm a newbie, and if I'm doing the calculations right, this seems like a good deal with some real cash flow.

But I can't help but get caught up with the part that I need to plunk down $40k plus closing costs just to get into the deal.

So I am tying up my $50k to get about $1,200 per month, or about $15,000 per year. So I don't even get my original $50k back for over 3 years.

Now, the first 3 years I will be building equity in the property that really my tenants will be paying for, as well as some cash flow. After that 3 years, I could either sell it and take the profit or keep it and continue getting cash flow for as long as I own and maintain the property?

Is this the proper way to be evaluating a potential deal?
I'd appreciate any feedback, especially if you are good at more complicated calculations like ROI and the TVM.. things which make my head hurt!