In 2020 I bought my first house 3 bedroom 1 bathroom and a 2 car detached garage for $175,000 and put a 10k downpayment on it and interest rate was 3.5%, in 2023 I decided to rent it out for $1350 mortage was $1106.62, in 2024 we raised the rent to $1450 and our mortage currently is $1144.76- I never put into account repair expenses, Capex, vacency until I read on rental investment properies book.

I was wrestling with a similar question when I bought my first rental property.

I started off profiting $1500/month as soon as I bought the houses (all within 2 or 3 years ago) vs only $300/month with normal rentals that rent to a family.

And who knows what is in store with the jobs market.It also depends upon the election and what policies are implemented.I am hoping prices continue to drop in multifamily, and we see a pick up in activity.

That being said, I scrapped the idea and bought another rental property.One hack to consider, a colleague of mine finished a third floor, made the third floor the living room and kitchen and the second floor the two bedrooms because that scenario avoided the need for a second means of egress.

@Ram Gonzales - I bought a quad earlier this year and in addition to running the numbers as a larger multifamily property (income, expenses, NOI) I would also encourage you to look at the price/unit for triplexs and quads in the area to get a general sense of a comparative market approach.

I thought about buying it Subto, but she bought in 2022 at the height of the real estate market so the monthly payment is too high for this areas rental market.

If the property you're thinking of tapping into equity for is the one you listed, you bought for $495 and you owe $450 on it, unless it has appreciated quite a bit I don't think you have enough equity in there to pull from. 

Need to update my counters..lolA good strategy that may save you some money, is to check a local recycle store.

We bought it new.