Hello, I’m also new to real estate, but I’ve watched enough webinars to know that you should check the math to see if it’s a good deal by using the rental calculator on BP.

Look up how to evaluate properties and deals and start doing the real math.

(Side Note: if you really want to jump your credit score in a few months (because it takes time for the reporting to update), and if your disciplined with your spending try this;1st) I went and did the math to see what my positive cash flow each month off my active income (let’s say you’ve got $500 left over after you go through your monthly spending avg. which is all you kick out vs what you bring in)2nd) Go get a credit card with 0% interest for 12mths with NO higher than 5% transfer fee.( their are some with low as a 0% transfer and I had got that one on my 2nd round cause my credit wouldn’t let me at first)3rd) do a transfer balance after 24- 48hrs of opening the card (Nope you don’t need wait to actually get the card just call in and tell them over the phone to send a Blanche transfer check to your bank account in the amount of your car Balance; because you’ve only got a 30day window of transfer with 0% interest for the 12mths)4th) PAY YOUR CAR OFF IN FULL, and take your old car note (let’s says it $450mth) plus your $500 positive cash each month and add all $950 each month to pay against the balance on the card5th) in 45days start checking your CreditKarma app (its free) and don’t worry about the 5% if it’s larger than your car loan % because once you’ve paid your car off your score will go up and in a couple months of $950 your car will be paid OFF not in 2more years or so...Thus saving you probably more than $2,000 in interest on the car loan (so you get to keep $$) and time in payments.Your saving money on interest (keeping it in your pocket thus making your pocket bigger!

I will need to get the exact numbers from the lender tomorrow on what the new payment will be on the initial two properties and the new one to do the math.

I've done the math and once I get 3 houses paid off, the mortgages start falling like dominoes.I can't currently move out of the Bay Area bc my kids are in high school.As you might have deduced, I'm a pretty conservative investor.  

My advantages that I know of are my ability to get a mortgage (W-2 income, credit, and debt ratio are all good), having enough cash and house equity to get a 25% down non-occupied loan on a SFH or duplex (in my market), willingness to sell and move to house hack a 3-4 unit, understanding the fundamentals and math of small residential REI, love of learning "systems", and being a complete badass at life in general ;)My disadvantages that I know of are that I don't have experience yet in buying/managing rentals, and I haven't met enough other investors to learn about a lot of deals early in the pipeline.What would you do in my situation?

I would like to know offer example such as offer to pay full 15% of commission, but lower rent or offer asking rent price with lower commission (such as 10%).Just a quick math, if I paid 12.5% in fee and $1650, then the equivalent rent would be $1856.25 = ($1650 x 12 + $2475)/12Another example would be, 15% in fee and $1550 is $1705 = ($1550 x 12 + $1860)/1210% in fee and $1750 in rent is $1925 = $1750 x 12 + $2100)/12 (this would be higher than the current offer...)So I guess the math says, lowering the rent will help over all cost for me...?

@Bruce Harding option B is what I would do, but your math is off, you would bring $125k.

Here’s my latest blog post:https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/8290/76279-it-s-all-3rd-grade-math?

You sort out the math on all of that, take your cut(don't be greedy) and if it is attractive enough, you will have saved your cash buyer time and that is the value they expect from you.