Samford's business school also offers a concentration in real estate investment and management.

HUDuser.org is great for vacancy rates, but cross-referencing with local market reports is important for more context.For job diversity and employers, LinkedIn or regional economic development websites often provide insights.

Are they offering competitive rates and terms compared to other lenders in your area?

Also, how much time do you want to spend doing real estate vs. your main job or extra work in order to fund it.

I've seen some lenders offer as low as 15% down on an investment property but the terms they'll impose for doing so aren't usually worth it imo. 

one of my clients that has a pretty big PM company.. had a unique way of doing this.He offered 50% of the first months rent or 500.00 minimum.. he would have 4 or 5 agents at the weekly meeting handout the list of vacants .. each of them would go place a sign in the yard and first come first served.. he found that potential tenants would call the first sign if no answer they called the next one until finally someone answered.. it worked pretty awesome for him. 

Do not offer to pay more rent ever to make the deal happen.   

@Jack Cottrell"I haven't seen the property in person although my realtor has been there"famous last words.sounds like @Caleb Brown can offer a ton of value here - i'd connect with him

They want to sell for as much as possible.Use the broker's pro forma as a thumb to the wind guide for your interest along with the rest of the offering memo (right location, asset class, etc.). 

When I asked my agent about options to back out, he didn’t really offer any advice.