Beginner investor looking for advice in Iowa.

[Mitch Chilton]

Hello everyone!

I am a beginner investor living in southern Iowa (52501). I have a full time job as a scientific instrument sales representative, and I am normally on the road at least three days per week.  I bought my first house one year ago; it is a duplex that I live in and rent one side.  Even with me living in half it still cash flows! Anyways, that kind of got me hooked and I am interested in getting more units. 

I grew up in the area and my parents owned a few units when I was growing up, so I have some idea of how the market works, but I would appreciate any advice I can get from anyone with experience investing in smaller, rural markets. Single family homes are fairly cheap and easy to come by in the area, and in my experience rent well. For example:

Just looking on Zillow I can find a number of single family homes from 30-50k. My experience is that I can rent a two bed/one bath upstairs apt for $650/month.

Mortgage - $300 (assumption is conventional loan...this is variable)

Maintenance - $32.5 (5%)

Management - $65 (10%)

Property Tax - $50

Total Expenses - 447.5

Net - $252.5

Quite honestly, I think I could make these numbers look better (refinance my duplex and get cash out for much less for example), but I'm curious what others think.

I should probably state that my goals for right now are horizontal income without too much work. I would like to get one more property, see how I feel, and reevaluate what I want my goals to be.