*Newbie! Close to buying my first property...I'm STUCK*

[Samuel Ichite]

Hello All, 

My name is Sam and I am a new investor living in Dallas, currently eager to get into real estate with my first deal. I plan to invest in Tallahassee, FL where I am from because I know the area very well. Very confident in a consistent rental, because it is the capital of Florida as well as a college town with two major universities ( Florida State and Florida A&M). I am seeking to Buy and Hold, as I have found a great Real Estate Agent that has educated me, as well as a lender the gave me a pre-approval of up to 120K at 4.8%. My concern now is the amount I will have to bring to closing, I don't have much money in reserves, but I have been encouraged by my lender to borrow around 20K from the bank to put a down payment of 20% on the investment property I want to buy. Has anyone found themselves in this position before, what would you do in my shoes? Getting another loan for 20K will put my Cash on Cash return into the negative as well as my cash flow. So with the borrowing of 20K, I'm now seeing my deals as bad deals. Any thoughts on this would be helpful... 

Thank you all in advance for your help,

Sam

[Louis Porter Jr.]

Hello Samuel,

Welcome to BiggerPockets. I have bought two pieces of real estate in Tallahassee and I must say you can get a FAIR amount of properties for under $100K. The two I brought were for $72K and $70K and there are a few that I want to get for less than that.  But don't get a loan to get your downpayment. Either you should have the money ready OR don't buy it. All it takes is a sewer issue or a roof problem to make it REALLY tight for you as an investor. Save the down payment any way you can. Hope this helps!