These folks do not need to be licensed but there are limits on what they can and can't do, and they have to be salaried employees of the owner or report to a licensed property manager.

The monthly cost is high, but we currently are cashflow positive about $1,200 a month.

You could put seller financing on second position and get financing for the first and do a 90% CLTV.I don't think any lender (unless private) will let you put nothing down.

For those of you who have been in a similar position, what do you think makes the most sense?

If you care just about positive cash flow (and you don't care about population growth, macroeconomics, or appreciation), definitely go with Cleveland.

Based on my calculations, even with a low down payment, I can achieve positive cash flow (with aggressive enough house hacking).

I am the first in my family to do REI and my goal is to break the tradition of working for a salary for 40+ yrs only to retire on what I hope will be enough to start living freely.

I personally think you can successfully market both your property management (PM) and buy/sell real estate services under one brand if you position them correctly.

I think that's one of the reasons that I didn't post very much on BIggerPockets, it's because I was just trying to keep my head above water.But now it's 2025 and things are stabilizing and I have a much more positive outlook on the future.Let me know if any of you had a couple of difficult years recently and how you were able to turn it around if you did.

S so I already have a hard money lender that accepts sellers financing deals however they would like to be first position.