If you're a single mom with student loans, a car payment, and living paycheck-to-paycheck, then $20,000 would be devastating and a reserve is critical.

I could see a requirement, perhaps under the Patriot Act, that requires all landlords to get a SSN/TIN from everyone living in a unit and report that (or lack of) to the federal government.

I live around Huntsville, the epicenter of northern Alabama.

I live outside of Charlotte in a small town called Denver (of the East).

I can speak from experience as a student at Texas A&M, I lived in a 5 br/5 b house and I knew plenty of other students who lived in similar houses or "Ag Shacks" if you will.

Our out of state investors first came directly from our circles of influence in Denver where I lived and Florida where my older brother lived.  

The calculator is a LIVE excel with multiple tabs and all of them are interconnected, you may mess up a formula and you will see awesome returns inaccurately.

Hey all,Just wanted to introduce myself - bought a duplex in Los Feliz over the summer with a few business partners and will be renovating the property while living there.

So - somewhere 2 hours away, or somewhere you like to vacation in, or where all your family lives, or where you plan to move someday.Too many people are trying to do exactly what you're doing - pick a market based on a formula - and they end up buying a random 'cheap' property thousands of miles away, turn it over to people they've never met or even spoken to, and then... lose money.  

If you are buying to live in, you could also do FHA with a cosigner.