I was an executive at a software company in Santa Barbara and the area was way too expensive to get any performance out of investments.I did study a lot of different options and realized (for me and my family) that the government is actually supporting investing in residential real estate with a lot of benefits.I first determined what I believe performance really means and concluded that for me, it means I should have some positive cash flow from day 1 after closing (or Day 1 when a tenant moves into the property).It also meant that a good tool to even see if any available deal could work was applying the 1%-rule.

Concluded that I should improve cashflow anyway as not breaking even after all numbers factored in, and that 100k+ equity could be working much harder over nxt 5 years than just supporting further equity build.

More in-depth analysis is required to conclude which entity is better for you. 

Hopefully you've done the math and concluded that your higher borrowing cost is offset by what you're able to do with that capital.I've started to do more and more private loans (to people like you) as they're safe and pay returns that are high on a risk adjusted basis.Good luck!

Typically, the fourth quarter concludes each year with a surge in transaction activity.

She will likely die before the terms are concluded and I want to have control of the deed by that point, hence the post.Purchase Price to be negotiated - anywhere 350k to 550k.

If you have houses that appreciate quickly, I would wait 6 months to see what the rents do before you sell them and conclude that the cash flow is poor.

Once I subtracted the single large repair, the annual maintenance cost was about $350.Based on this research, I concluded that the base maintenance for the properties we target is about $350/Yr.

@Bill Gulley, you wrote: "Buy at 105K, have 35 in costs, I need 140K to break even, say my appraisal comes in at 192,500, at 70% I'm at 134,750 or at 75%, I get 144, 375".Did you think I wouldn't notice you're wrong to conclude: "either way I'm short"?

I think I've concluded that I want to start out house hacking by buying a sfh and renting out each of the rooms, I think it will do fairly well as I also live near a college and can rent out to students to get higher cash flow than a traditional 2-4 unit.