Here's My Plan - What am I missing?

[Ryan Morgan]

I'm new to real estate investing and have been reading and listening to podcasts to learn more. I definitely want to get into it, and wanted to share my thoughts and my plan and get some feedback from those with experience.

My financial situation is good (well-funded retirement accounts, no debt except our house which has equity, 529s set up for the kids, emergency fund set up, mutual fund savings). We live in a nice suburb of Cleveland and want to invest locally.

I'm interested in starting on the smaller side - finding either a $100,000 or less condo or townhome in good shape with a good rental margin, or possibly a multi-family unit for $150,000 or less. I have enough for a 20% down payment for these options.

I plan to use a property management firm as I have a full-time job and a family.

I'm aiming to set aside 5% of rent for vacancy, 10% for property management, and another 10% for fixes and capex. I'm also figuring in taxes and insurance.

My goal is to purchase to buy-and-hold, so that I'm receiving a little bit of rental income each month (after all expenses), building some equity in the property over time, and taking advantage of the tax benefits.

What am I missing? What else should I consider? What are the next steps?