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Thanks for the link. Looks like it could be helpful, but, like so many people, they want to stick their hand in your wallet.
:shake:

I'm working with a great agent who has proven to me their value. They're bird dogging properties for me, but I want to be able to look on my own too. I've spent a lot of time trying to find something online that will let me search for apartment buildings for sale and come up empty. Search engines for houses are all over the place.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks to everyone for your help.

I'm looking for some good recommendations for books about landlording. Or if there's a good (as opposed to 'bad') web site or anything else that will help me grow beyond my current newbness.
Thanks for the help. :D

I just came across this page [on John T Reed guru ratings]. Sorry if this has already been done.
I figure better to have two of the same tool than none at all. Not sure who Reed is and obviously I don't recommend you take anything he (or anyone) says at face value without doing your own research.
I thought the site had some interesting info.

biggerpo, you're kidding, right. So many of everyones posts have been a great help already, but you bet, I'm sure I've got lots to ask help on.

I'd like to avoid posting a question that gets, oh I don't know, 24 hits and no answers :lol: but that may happen from posting in the wrong place.

I'm very happy to be here. I actually found this board linked from the Rich Dad forum, and I'm glad I did. Not to sound harsh, but that board doesn't feel like it's got as much substance. There's more meat here and less hype and sales talk.

Is there an online financial statement form that'll calculate everything, or maybe something that can be downloaded?

I haven't done a statement before but I want to have a clear picture of where I am so as I build my 5 year plan I know where I'm starting from.

Thanks to the forum for your help.

I'm rereading the book to stay on track.

Thanks eveyone. You've confirmed what I was thinking. So, it seems clear (at least to me) that true profit is gained from a property where the income from rentals amounts to more that all the expenses related to that property.
(Light begins to dawn)

My 3 unit building is in a lower middle income area. Having just gotten it my plan is to make some improvements. Nothing huge. One unit needs the carpet replaced. A tub here, new paint there. Yet these improvements would allow me to raise the rents and that would definitely put me above the break even point.
Are there other things I can do to reap higher profits? To me it seems like a simple problem containing two factors; 1. the mortgage (including taxes insurance etc), 2. the rent.
The only solution I can is to to make RENT greater than MORTGAGE.

Okay, I've done my talking. Now I'll listen to all of you.

Except for my personal house payment I have no debts. What do you mean by snowballing your mortgages? Without fail everyone in REI says it's not important to pay off the investment mortgages. Just make sure to pay the interest.

Being somewhat of a newbie, I'm taking full advantage of asking some embarrassing questions... just like the one below.

I want to live off the income of the properties I (will) own. Yet, if I'm only clearing a couple of hundred dollars a month on a rental property, then doesn't that mean I'd have to own enough properties to generate an amount equal to my personal monthly expenses?
Yes, it might seem I'm asking the obvious but I'm very new to RE investing and have no doubt there's a lot of ways to create profit I don't know about.

VERY loosely put, my strategy is to buy a rental property (which at the very least I break even on) use the equity from that buy another property, and on and on. But, (big big but) if all I'm ever doing is breaking even I'm only generating equity, but not positive monthly cash flow.

Is this correct, and what can I do to break out of this cycle so I can generate the profit I'm looking for?