Back then was this triplex a money burner for investors, at these prices.I would buy a house at ain 10%+ CAP not at all lower and with the 50% rule (I agree with Jon, thats the best calculation) you have $1,200 NOI every month = $14,400 one year / 0.10 CAP Rate = $144,000 (- your $10,000 down) for this house not higher, that must be your goal.Remember that the seller can´t take this price with an higher mortgage on the propertie.

I live in France, and here according to the law, if we want to flip and sell multiple houses in a year we need to pay big fat % as tax.So, I will be sticking to buying and holding.

Ideally, our ROI would have been over 60%, but we put this rehab on the back burner to focus on 2 other flips.

We actually cut the two burner electric stove into the counter top (bought at Walmart for about $200), and purchased a full 18cuft fridge.

The plan in motion now is we have trimmed all the fat in the personal finances and are now beginning to bank sufficient cash to float my family so I can then have two or three of these properties at one time to ultimately do one big cash out refi in a portfolio.

So yes, if you can afford to put down $200,000 and see NO return from it for 25 years, but THEN you get a fat check for $1,500,000 (in 2040 dollars) when you sell (it should have been for $3,000,000, except for the great crash of  2025), then yes, many people use this approach.

Numbers are numbers, last time I checked they don't smack you or call you fat so I don't understand how they come with emotions. 

There's an old saying, "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."

I run anywhere from 50-80k in just overhead realtors taxes/recordation on both sides and interest (using a line of credit at 4-6%} and you need a fat spread to cover those costs.

I've been interested in Real Estate for years, and quite frankly this has spent enough time on the back burner.