My issue, is that from a consumer standpoint the industry perceives to switch from residential to commercial at 4.

I've been consuming as much content from BiggerPockets the past 6+ months to plan for an earlier retirement than I initially thought possible.

Even if we use a more modest 2% (inflation) appreciation model, you end up with $1.9 million, which is a $100k "loss" versus a $1.9 million loss.Of course there's lots of other factors - can you stay there for 30 years?

@Jasmeial Jackson and Account ClosedYou both seem a bit naive about federal laws regarding this.The primary law that governs how institutions can use or share personal information about consumers is the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999.

Getting into rental real estate investing has been on my mind for about a year or so and I’ve been consuming books, podcast, etc.

Tom Wheelwright’s WealthAbility is a full-on SCAM with shoddy ‘business practices’ that needs to be investigated for consumer fraud!

One avenue is the FHA loan – great for newcomers with a modest down payment (usually 3.5%).

my main concerns are (1) this property has substantial deferred maintenance that you're not aware of, and (2) vacancy and turnover will be high, and together those factors are going to consume all of the cash flow for several years but, it sounds like if that's the case, you're going to back out. 

From the initial notice to the actual eviction, this can be complex and time-consuming.

I originally came from the consumer finance and "B, C, and D Lending" (now non-QM), then migrated to commercial banking before focusing on real estate investors (we don't like to say "hard money")...so I actually have a lot of experience in what you're trying to do.