Hey everyone, I'm Steffan, a 25 year old pilot moving to Fargo, ND with my fiance in a few months. We both have credit scores around 760, this will be our first home, and we make about 95,000 a year together.

I am interested in buying a town house or some other single family home that we can live in for a few years at the longest, and then can use as a rental property once we move on. I have learned a decent amount about being a landlord on the BP forums, through the podcasts, and through other research. That is less of my concern than finding the right place.

I keep looking at different town houses and by using the 2% rule, the 50% rule, and anything else I have heard about. I just can't seem to find anything even near the figures I am supposed to be looking for by using these rule-of-thumb figures.

I'm not necessarily looking for huge positive cash flow, I just would love to have a relatively low maintenance place that I can hold on to that at least pays for itself every month for the purpose of building equity.

Two places that serve as an example for the sort of houses i'm finding in the area are as follows:

1. A town house for sale in Fargo, listed at $134,000, built in 1983 and in seemingly good condition. I'm estimating it could rent for ~$850-1000 a month.

2. A town house for sale in Fargo, listed at $150,000, built in 1985, also seemingly good condition. I'm estimating that it could rent for ~$1,100-1,250 a month.

I understand that there are a ton of factors that are involved that I haven't yet accounted for, I just wanted all of your opinions. Is there a way I might be not making a mistake with one of these sorts of properties, or should I rent for a year or so (ugh) and wait until I move to a different market to buy something?

Thanks everyone, i'm excited to join the BP community!

Links to the houses on Zillow in case you're curious:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Fargo-ND/668...

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Fargo-ND/102...

0 Votes