Max, I think you may be neglecting taxes, insurance and PMI in your mortgage payment calculation.

The current balance on that loan is about 30K and the max I can pay is about 120k for the condo.

I was planning to take out the mortgage first and then approach the seller (since she needs more time anyway) but I will only have 80k max. I

Hi Yiftach,If I were considering this, I'd come at it kind of backwards.Meaning I'd come up with a per door max I could spend in rehab and still hit my intended numbers.I'd also take into account the length of time each unit will be down (best and worst case scenario) and figure that into the numbers.Then I'd come up with a "Package" (how I want each unit to be to make it "Competitively rentable"), appliances, floor covering, faucets, doors, hardware, HVAC, modern required electric, etc... and Hard price that package for each unit, estimating the price increase over time as all units will not be done day one.Then get bids on the labor required to do the work.I'd split labor from parts so to speak, to control the parts purchases as much as possible because I know exactly what I want down to the part number.

.- Brandon Haugen, RE/MAX is a great investor friendly agent based out of La Crosse.

What is the max I can contribute?

At a 20 CAP you'll still be paying over 15K per home... and this would be about the max I would even begin to consider offering for them unless they are very recent homes and in excellent condition.If I were buying this deal I would first ask the seller if he/she would like to keep the homes and just sell the land.

He said that the max I can charge is 10% and mine were higher.

You could use "Lord of Land", "Prince of Parcels" "Property King" "High Priest of Real Estate" or "Guru Mentor" but I'd just go with my name without a title or just "Owner".I get a kick out seeing a person's business card with "President, CEO" of something like American Real Estate Enterprises.I know some pretty wealthy business types, their cards are more likely to be just their name centered, the lower left in smaller print is an address and a phone number on the lower right.

Increasing the amount that I can borrow for the purchase of a property, by another $10,000  ( I came up with $10,000 , because I have heard that for each $25 that you have in monthly debt... credit card debt in my case ) , that you can borrow an extra $5,000 for each $25 monthly debt that you pay offI have 2 cards, with fairly low amounts.... one has around $550 and the other as around $650 So with $1,200 , I could pay both of these cards off completely , which would then leave me with 2 credit cards left ( minimum payments per month on the two, total about $110 per month )My dilemma is..... due to my income over the past few years ( via my tax returns ), and added with it ..... the Max DTI ratio for an FHA loan ( 50% max I think ?