I bought my first property 6 months ago with an FHA mortgage with 3.5% down, used a 401k loan to do some renovations to increase rental values. I did a majority of the work myself to cut down costs and do the property management. I am now closing on my second property this Friday with an investment loan 25% down. I cash flow on my first duplex an amount I am comfortable with and I will cash flow a comfortable amount with this other duplex. So the question to ask yourself is what reserves are you comfortable with? What level of risk are you comfortable with? We make a similar wage and with 0% occupancy I can swing both mortgages so I personally feel very comfortable. I am 24 so I am okay with failing. We have time on our side.
Money for your next property could come from a 401k if you have one to tap into. If you have a roth ira it is to my understanding you can withdraw what you have contributed to it, just not the gains. You can always ask family for low interest loans.
As for are you ready for another property? That's up to you. I truly believe success is through massive action. I go to work and I come home and work. Work can be painting my side of the duplex or through self education. A lot of my self education is through bigger pockets pod casts, seeing different perspectives how others are doing things. Listening to audio books during work. Educate yourself constantly!
As you probably already know the bigger pockets calculator you can use to analyze your deals. Look for deal killers like higher than expected taxes, or owner paid water sewer bills need factored in. Look at what the market is paying for in rent what your buying. I look for some simple value add. No rentals in my area offer washer dryer hook ups or air conditioning. Those were two things I added right away in my first duplex and I boosted rental income by 25%. Closing on this next property I will be able to do the same thing, add washer dryer hook ups and add air conditioning. Yes I am adding to my expenses, so factor that in. Also I make sure that if I spend $5000 adding these said things then I need to be getting at least a 10% return on that through rental income. Lastly, to my surprise, when I was showing my property, people were surprised on how beautiful my property was. I didn't fix any of the blemishes on the walls. I painted the walls a neutral color and painted the trim and doors white covering the old dated wood trim. Something as simple as new paint makes me stand out in my market. Take that all in account when you are looking for deals and what's your market isn't offering and what you can offer?
I have not done any direct mail marketing so I cant speak on that but If you do go that route I would definitely be sure to have the cash readily available to make moves.
I am definitely interested in what others have to say because we make a similar income and are similar in age, both working on our second property.
