A conventional income applicant, so to speak, could lose their job and pay you nothing. 

To make the job flow easier, but also (mainly) to protect myself if a customer changed their mind later ( which was common).

Just started working my first W-2 job out of college and looking to start investing ASAP.

1) If you continue waiting for the "right time ”, you’ll always be waiting.2) Your current job doesn't care about you.

By the time the cranky Building Inspector shuts down the job to the time the HCD sides with the owner, it could be weeks.

We fee like a conservative approach will let us go through the growing pains of better understanding real estate investing without the worry of being over leveraged to add to the stress while we are both still employed full time in our careers and do not plan on quitting our jobs to go fully into real estate. 

Create a realistic pro forma profit and loss statement to determine if this business has the potential to pay any more than you could make working a “no risk” job. 6.

For LTRs, prioritize markets with population growth and strong job markets.Wherever you choose, work with an investor-friendly agent who knows the local market and can help you analyze deals.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

The macroeconomics here is booming - the tech sector growth keeps the population and job market growing and rental demand strong.