I think you will find that a family is less than a grand a month, depending on circumstances.

Arlington and Grand Prairie is a good investor market.

I was able to owner finance and my favorite method was low down say a few grand.. and ZERO % interest carry with higher than normal payments but enough that the buyer could break even on cash flow if they managed them themselves...

If not separately metered, then I'd figure about $100/mo/unit for a grand total of $6000/year in utilities including water ($1000 less than what you've listed).Bottom line is that this makes a huge difference in your analysis so you need to find out before doing anything else.

If you're not 100% crystal clear on how the standard purchase contract works (and the consequences of a seller breaking that contract) in your state, it might be worth talking to a lawyer if you're looking at spending more than a few grand and one week (depending on your risk tolerance, etc).

Figure a couple grand per unit while accounting for economies of scale (not all will go wrong on all units at the same time). whatever is leftover OVER that amount, I use to fund next deals.

The additional payment would be far smaller than coming up with the 7 grand, so if you want to do more deals I would roll it in. 

A little background about myself is that I'm an out of state investor (living in California but looking to invest in Grand Rapid, MI), and I'm searching for small multi-family properties of 2-4 units that are less than 100K.  

Hi, I am Jon and I live in Grand Junction Colorado.

I'm in a very similar boat... 24 years old, looking for a multi family, and investing in the Midwest (Grand Rapids, MI).