This will help you understand the qualifying requirements, key factors to consider when purchasing, and how to assess whether a property might be a good investment at first glance.

Good occupancy and solid CAP rate.

I would say Dallas is a solid place to start right now.4) Once I've lived in the property for the obligatory year, is that typically long enough to refinance and use HELOC towards my next property? 

@Kerry Hermann - the posts by @Michael Ewers and @Samuel Coronado were solid advice (I don't know Nita Cook whom Sam referenced, so that's the only part of his post I can not comment on).I second what Michael said about the market here - it was fantastic from 2017 (when I started) through 2022 - then it really started to crater in 2023 (although we still found some deals), and the bottom completely dropped out in 2024 (found one small commercial deal and one residential flip deal in 2024 - that's it). 

I understand how important privacy is to our guests. 

The most successful real estate agents understand that prospecting and lead generation is the MOST IMPORTANT part of their business.

Most lenders are going to be limited to 70% of ARV ($560,000 total loan amount) but that means they could fund 85% or a bit higher of purchase price + rehab ($560,000/$645,000 = 86.8%), which is solid.

Until you have $1 million or more in equity and really understand how to use an LLC, I recommend you just buy an umbrella insurance policy for $1 million.

If that is the case then I would say yeah work with an agent who has a solid reputation either here or from a friend referral.

Condo HOAs are killer but this looks like a solid deal.