Honestly it might take you 2 years just to get over the emotional part of REI if something goes bad. you said you had a friend that does it full time. maybe what he is not telling you is how he got started. not everyone has 200k to start with heck even if you put that into a money market account you can get 4% interest. thats not bad.

Take the emotion out of it, and trust your numbers and the data you have to support your decision and that will help to reduce your risk and hopefully set your mind at ease as you do your first deal.

I need to get my head straight i feel too emotional about this deal

They respond emotionally to protect you in most cases.

If you dont get the house for that much then just walk away..this is what im doing from now onI see a house i put an offer in they counter offerlets say the house is 100k I have preset im not going into the house for more than 70k. so i offer 65k they respond with 90 i respond wtih 85 lets just say they accept. then i would do my inspection and everything i found wrong wtih the home i'd negotiate it less and less until i brought it down to 70k or less whichever makees sense when u walk through the home for the first time.do not get emotional, it's a numbers game and if the numbers dont add up dont go foward with the deal. you wanna make sure u leave contingencies in your contract. they give you a way out if you find something that you extremely dislike. i hope this helps my example prolly sucks but good luck!

As long as you don't have any real emotional ties to the home and you don't need the equity in that house to purchase your new home then I would say rent it.

If inflation shows no signs of weakening and the pattern persists, the Fed may have to step in and increase short-term rates to contain it.

But if the economy weakens it can only add to credit-related problems.It will take some more time to gauge whether the problems of sub prime mortgages have seeped into Alt-A mortgages and the broader mortgage market, and understand its true impact on mortgage rates.

It is definitely with mixed emotions that I make this change.

Renting out "your" house to strangers takes an emotional toll.