Newbie trying to understand the math involved in plex properties.

[Dustin Hahn]

My goal is to purchase a duplex (or possibly tri/fourplex) with an FHA loan as my first home and live in one of the units here in Fayetteville Arkansas. After that is said and done I want to plan how I purchase the next ones.

I've been learning a lot from research here on BiggerPockets and books and I'd like to give you guys a walk through of how I'm seeing things so you can tell me if I'm absolutely wrong or if I'm going in the right direction.

I found a property in my area that I perceive as a possible good investment that I'll share the details on here.

Duplex

List Price: $149,900
Rents: Current: $1,380 Potential: $1,600 Realistic: $1500
Down Payment: $5565 (3.5% FHA)
30 Year fixed 4% interest rate.
FHA principle and interest: $803.
Est. Taxes: $1600
Est. Insurance: $1500 (Arkansas average homeowners insurance is $1060 so I over estimated to avoid hidden costs. Any advice here would be appreciated)

Maintenance Factor: 15%
Vacancy Factor (College Town): 10%

So with the estimated $1500 I feel I could easily rent these two units out for, I calculated these things and came up with $63.67 monthly cash flow.

Now, considering I won't be renting out both sides, I plan on using my full time job income to provide regular "rent" for my side to cover that unit. I am also single so I would like to rent out a room or two in my unit to cover most of that out of pocket cost. I will also be managing the property myself to save costs and learn the ins and outs.

I've read that you should try to shoot for $100 cash flow per unit to consider it a good deal. But with the much lower down payment, and the equity this will build for me, could this still be considered a good investment? This is also not factoring in that I took the list price at face value and could potentially get a lower purchase price.

I would love to hear everyone's input and opinion. Questions welcome.