Dying to Buy My 1st Rental Property, but I've cancelled 2 contracts and don't know what to do next

[Kay H.]

Hi, 

kind of stuck here. I wanted to go Fha on a multifamily rental property. I improved my credit scored and even took out money from my 401k for a downpayment. I've signed 2 agreements of sale. On the first one, I realized the cash flow just wasnt there. it was a 270k building only making about 20k in rent a year and when you go fha, you're not putting much money down so its hard to cash flow due to the mortgage payment being higher than it would be if I had put 20% down. 

Also, when we did the inspection, the property needed way more repairs than I had the money to pay for of out pocket. Over time I would be putting a lot of money into the property. Sure the seller would give concessions, but he was not going to make all the repairs needed and I felt like this property was too risky. 

The second property had a similar repair problem at inspection, but this time it was termite damage and sewerline. 

So now i'm stuck. how can I find a property i can live in that cash flows? Should i do a 203k loan where i could finance the repairs? 

Should i do a construction loan? 

Any thoughts? Any experiences similar to this? 

[Matthew Anderson]

Persistence and patience.  No deal is much better than a bad deal.