I plan to stay in this general area for at least the next 20 years and think buying real estate would be a great way to diversify my investment portfolio.So in almost any scenario you will come ahead buying vs renting over twenty years probably well less than half of that, but the investment you are making is a long term investment you probably won’t be able to leave after a year or two and rent for more than your mortgage, I’d really think about where you want to live medium-long term, than any investment metric, because the longer you stay the better the investment looks, and if you can move out sooner great, but I’d guess at minimum you’d have to stay 5 years before rents would catch up to your mortgage. 

@Damini Dutta did you end up moving forward?

The tenant base, on average, tends to be rougher on the properties, moves more frequently, and cannot absorb any rent increases.  

If your entity has several years of operating history and good and reliable financials, you may be able to find something. 

Quote from @Lorenzo Lopez: In terms of buying my first deal, I haven't been able to move the needle because, where I am, for example, small multifamily is trading at around 5.5% caps and rates are 6.5% .

Hi, I was wondering if there's any good reliable places to market tenant in place + management in place properties. 

Of course, if we have another available unit that's similar to the one they were looking at, I'll pivot to that and offer to move their current application over to that unit as long as they would still qualify under whatever the new unit's rent is. 

I've got a lot of problems with the Mayor, but this, I feel was a great move.

Hopefully they moved on to a juice processing plant for culls.  

When you are ready to move forward, I'd be happy to help you look at a deal.Jeff