A question before property investment......

[Derrick Alfonso Tafur]

Hello from Ohio,

     I'm finally at the point where my wife and I are ready to build a new house.   I've been tossing around the idea of using my current house as a first rental property and have already had multiple inquiries to rent.  

The monthly rent would be enough to cover the mortgage and carry some cash flow to boot but if there is just one month that the house is vacant due to turnover, I lose 4 months of said cash flow.  I have enough back up funds if this did occur but I'm wondering how other investors got over that risk factor.     Maybe it's just me being too cautious..  

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Derrick from Ohio