In my area specifically most investment type property listings are properties that were purchased 1 to 2 years ago.

Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

I plan on moving forward with purchasing my first property and starting a portfolio locally -before the year is over..

Curious thoughts on the following scenario.Current SFR with $51k loan at 8.125%, just purchased with around 10% built-in equity on the property, $250 monthly cashflow (post expenses).

I guess the idea is to use the equity from one property to purchase the second property, and so on.

There are other submarkets of Columbus like upper Arlington that have higher like $500 per square foot but the purchases are tear downs at $200 per square foot so the real exit is $300 or so.

On the other hand, with an appraisal near the purchase price, that should be enough in this case.

Quote from @Jeffrey Bourque: Hello All, I am new and this is my first attempt at purchasing a property with the intent to create monthly cash flow.The property: Triplex Listed at $140,000 - Total monthly rent income $2,150 - Tenants want to stay and are all willing to sign new leases for 3 years - 8 beds 5 baths and 3,500sqft livable space on a 4,800sqft lot - Heat and electric paid by tenants and water trash paid by owner $180 month - I have managed to talk the selling price down to $105,000 with a kick of $10,000 for closing and commissions so $115,000 all in - Building is in fairly good shape according to pictures and questions but have not done a inspection yet - some general maintenance repairs are needed according to the seller but nothing that seems to bother the tenants. - Taxes are on the higher side at $6,000 yearMy Numbers: $115,000 putting 20% of my money $23,000 and finance the rest with total expense of $1,834Monthly expense numbers: Future Maintenance 13% $273 - Vacancy 5% $105 - Property Insurance 5% $105 - Property Taxes 23% $500 - Property management 10% $215 - Office/Travel/Legal 4% $84 - Mortgage 26% $552 - Monthly Cash Flow - $316 per month or $3,792 per year so Cash on Cash = 17%I think this looks like it is a deal worth doing and I also believe I can bump the total rent up by $50 each tenant which I think make it even better.

Once the 1031 is complete the LLC dissolves and again the property is distributed to the former members, including the properties just purchased in the 1031 exchange (which each member probably picked out for themselves).This method solved the feared "held for investment" issue. 

I’m in the process of purchasing a second home in Aspen, CO, which will also serve as my first STR property.