Advice on rental analysis

[Michael Balaska]

I am just starting to get into investing. My background is medical, so I am learning everything I can to get started. I have been reading and watching the videos on the website.  I have been looking at properties that I would like to buy and rent and then running the analysis. My question is... what specific part of the analysis should I be focusing on to determine if it’s a good deal. I have been focusing on cash flow and it seems the majority have been coming out around -$200 which would tell me that is not a good deal. This is with a 15 year fix mortgage. If I change it to 30 year and changes to a positive cash flow but I would think a 30 year would be to long for investing. Any advice would be appreciated. I apologize for my ignorance. 

[Rick Stein]

Originally posted by @Michael Balaska:

@Joe Villeneuve

Thank you again, you’re definitely helping me to have a better understanding. I guess my thought process was to get the property paid off sooner with a 15 year so the cash flow would increase and I would be much younger. However I understand what you’re saying and it gives me the confidence to buy. I just needed to reassurance that it was ok financially to do that.

Last question, what do you consider worth while when looking at CF? I have found several properties I am looking at for my first investment which would give me $200-$300+ in CF with a 30 year mortgage. Would you consider that worth it?

I try to avoid banks like Covid 19. They are too restrictive and they will only allow you to have so many loans. I use private (NOT hard) money almost exclusively. The lender is your dentist or someone with cash sitting in a CD at the bank collecting dust. You offer him 4-5%. There are no other fees and the property would probably cash flow nicely. He has a secure collateralized investment The loan can require no downpayment. I closed on 3 properties last week. Not only idd I not use a dime of my own money, I get back $28K at closing.