Go big or go small-- first investment question.

[Jade Davis]

The more I read and hear about REI, the more excited I get to begin my life as an investor. My husband and I will be buying our first home in June and decided to get a multifamily and owner-occupy with the idea being that the entire place will eventually be rented out to tenants.

After looking at some multi-families though, I happened upon a larger "multifamily" for sale which is actually a complex with 14 one bedroom apartments, one two bedroom apartment and three commercial spaces. It's in our desired area and is for sale for $500,000. I calcualted that our monthly payment would be approximately $4000.

This is the math I did for the unit:
14 One Bedroom Apartments at $700 each (this is being conservative), we will live in the two bedroom, we will rent the three commercial spaces for $800 each (again-- conservative). This would be a total income of $12200 per month. Minus 10% for a property management company leaves us at $10,980. Minus 50% per the 50% rule leaves us at $4880. Minus our $4000/month payment on the property leaves us living "rent free" with an inflow of $880/month. This sounds amazing. Obviously. But I'm wondering if (being so new and all) I'm biting off more than my husband can chew. Thoughs?

[Frankie Woods]

This sounds like an excellent deal with me.  Considering you gave conservative numbers for gross rent, the property is worth $915k at an 8% cap.  You are leaving a lot of room for any "newbie" errors...