I own 3 houses on the east side, a couple by Toledo hospital, a few in the North end, one student rental by thee University and a few in the Washington Local school district area.

We are near a University and the rental market is always busy.

Being so new I would the more experienced opinion of the wiser BiggerPockets community.Here is my dilemma:I live in Northern California where house prices have hardly dropped and my community has currently 1 house below the $400,000 price.We are near a University and the rental market is always busy.I'm currently looking at two houses.A Duplex that rents for a total 1700 / monthA Fourplex with rents that total 3950 /monthThe duplex, I'm thinking of offering 215k bank wants minimum 235kFourplex I was thinking of offering 400k Banks wants 465kAt these prices my calculations don't seem to cover the 50% rule.I'm doing FHA or Conventional with only %5 down.Doing my calculations, at the prices they are asking I don't even get a Cap Rate of 6% or the 1% rule.What do you guys think?

Find a local Investor and Flip for $3000 Fee -- Depends how close to University of hospital --if you can rent each unit for $500 per month --do the numbers -- I am surprised no one bought yet -- so cheap - check repairs estimates -- make it livable -- depending on the age --check to meet building code requirements -- if its already foreclosed --and no one bought --make offer for $50,000 Need to have your Buyer's List first --OR move to Atlanta --plenty of buyers here.

I did approach several mortgage brokers and met with universal disinterest.

I am looking at purchasing a duplex close to a UNIVERSITY.

I really believe this is the best part of the entire guide - being able to dig into a specific subject that interests you or you need to learn more about, all within the BP universe.

If you're staying local, I recommend checking local university MBA programs as many business programs have a concentration of real estate.

I have friends that went to private universities and paid 2-3 times more than your standard state university and come to find out it was a waste of money.

Thanks to everyone for weighing in, thankfully I'm not really involved in this situation, but since I hope to own some rental properties someday, it's good to see how to handle it.I definitely agree with Jerry W. about Dave Ramsey, actually our boss offered him a free financial peace University class, but you have to be ready to make a change before any of that excellent advice works.As someone who was a renter for 8 years (I can honestly say I was a good tenant, a roof over your head comes first) it's very interesting to see the other side of the coin.