.-- If you go with straight life insurance, you will get a higher initial death benefit and the disability rider is much stronger.

You have a full time job, you should look for properties in stronger submarkets, better tenants, and less vacancy.

I think the front door placed under the gable roof will make a much stronger statement than changing to double hungs. 

If you structure the offer correctly (my agent usually does it) there should be a financing contingency, so you should be able to get all your earnest money back if your financing falls through.Is it better to get your financing set up before hand, yeah it makes your offer stronger but it isn't absolutely necessary.

The returns are much stronger there.

If you can identify a growing area where you believe the appreciation will be forced up due to stronger rents then maybe you take a hit on smaller year-over-year returns and gear up for a big splash down the road. 5.

The market is definitely stronger now (in part due to out-of-state investors) but Round Rock can be tricky.I'm originally from the Chicago area where you can count on 6% appreciation per year like clockwork since WWII but I'm finding Texas is a whole different animal with negative appreciation mixed in with weak and strong years depending on the most recent oil bust or dot.com bust.The last few years have seen a lot of zero down entry level homes being sold with ARMs that are about to unlock after the inital 3-5 year period.

Really wanted to put myself in a stronger equity position since appreciation will be minimal over the next few years (again I'm guessing).Going in with 10% down and estimating cash flow of approx $238 per month net.Property taxes are 2% and factoring $160 monthly misc maintenance expense.Please send me some thoughts.

The bottom line is you may end up paying out more than you make over the course of the year.If your investment capital is very limited (hence the reason you're looking at $8k properties), then save up some more and invest is stronger areas.

Corded power tools are usually a lot stronger and can take quite a beating.