FHA is good due to the low down payment but the up front MI is very expensive.... in addition, you have to add .8 to your rate which is going to be your monthly MI so it will eat into your monthly profits; you cannot drop the MI, you would have to refinance to get rid of it. make sure you properly calculate the payment with all escrows and re-run you numbers...

Eat at the DFAC/chow hall and put your money into high interest bearing accounts that are fairly liquid.

Being 100% financed would basically eat away any possible cash flow for the properties I'm looking at because of the HELOC interest.

These will eat into any cash flow/profits you expect to make. 

Are the capital gains going to eat a chunk of his profit?

That’ll eat up the rest of your $250

@Arthur KineardHow do eat my cake and have it, too?

And when I do, I get outbid at far beyond asking (which I'd be open to do if I were buying a primary, but seriously eats into the already small margins from an investment standpoint) I’m from California, and I know the market is in a major upswing here, do you guys feel this is the case nationally?

I can see that, but really its more like not putting all my eggs in one basket and buying a lot of baskets...  

Account Closed Yeah the challenge I am facing is almost every property I have found is either way overpriced to be profitable, priced reasonably but in a high HOA area that eats the profits, or cheap but not in an area that can draw the rent (or tenant type) I am looking for.