We’re fortunate to have an above-average income and live well below our means.This summer, we’ll be moving to Detroit (PCSing in August), and we’ve saved about $120,000 to invest in addition to having funds set aside for the home we’ll purchase in Detroit.The reason I’m posting is that I’m struggling to decide how to best allocate the $120k.

I imagine the only way it would be possible is to do the bulk purchase in cash, sell off a couple and then put debt on them?

If you wanted to diversify you could use the income and purchase other properties, slowly add other properties. 

@Ming Huang Based on the numbers you've shared, I would advise against the deal, unless you can negotiate the purchase price down and/or rent it for at least $1,150.

Purchase price: $230,000 Cash invested: $283,550 Sale price: $283,500 Purchased off market. $25,000 Rehab. $20,000 profit after realtor commission.

@Chase Calhoun mainly we work with local builders but we have also purchased from the regional builders as well.

I recently watched a video on social media that mentioned the way he was buying properties and yielding the benefit of the sellers low interest rate is having the seller put the property in a trust and then purchasing the trust.

@Derick JenningsRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Quote from @Devin James: Gross Margin is an important calculation for developers/builders.Gross Margin = Gross Profit / RevenueWe shoot for a 20% gross margin on our New Construction HomesReal #’s:Home Sales Price: $374KClosing Cost: $18,700Cost of Construction: $258KLand Cost: $30KGross Profit = $67K$67K/$374K = 17.9% Gross MarginCame slightly short of our goal of 20%Homes Values and Build Costs are constantly fluctuatingI wish we had a crystal ball build larger homes. average new build in our market is 2200 square feet, 4 beds, 3 baths, 2 car garage and sells for 515k. construction costs lower if design is good and find the median or average home sale price and push that up. my guess is you built too small. 347k is cheap. we target 429-479k price range in columbus ohio for single family homes and also only purchase close to urban core where premiums are 20% higher and we build smaller like 1500 sq ft where price per square foot goes up. 

They also didn't get hit with capital gains on the entire purchase price, which enables them to keep more of their money.