First time investor/home buyer. Need some quick advice

[Rob Murphy]

Hey everyone,

Long time listener to the podcast. New to the forum. Lots of questions and knowledge to learn. 

So really quick, I'm in the market for my first rental property. I've almost 100% set my sights on the student rental market. The city has a number of large colleges and universities, of which are surrounded by neighborhoods of around 40-60 y/o houses. 

The market is (what I and many others believe) highly inflated, so just for context, a 60 year old 2 story/2 apartment home in the school area is ~250+. Rooms can potentially rent for 300-450 each.  

I'm GOING TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN, so I'm just looking for some words of wisdom. Does anyone have a quick hitlist of what I should be looking for in a student rental. Or should I look for a live in rental (live in the basement and rent the upstairs) I'm approved for 300K @ 5% down. I'm single and work 2 weeks out of the city with 1 week off in the city.  

[Jon Holdman]

Oh man, you have a bad case of gottadoadealitius.  You're thinking about paying $250K for a property that, if I understand your numbers, will generate $900 a month in rent?  How deep are your pockets, because that is going to be deeply cash flow negative.  If that's the sort of deal you can find, don't buy anything.  Go further away or invest in something else, because a deal like that is a stinker.  The goal of RE investing is to make money, not just to own real estate.