Bird dogging is a way to make money but its not gonna get you rich.WE have had many do some birddogging for us on the private lending side to find qualified people that need a loan and its interesting how many last a few weeks - I sense the same holds true for real estate bird dogs.

Quote from @Jeffrey Bourque: Hello All, I am new and this is my first attempt at purchasing a property with the intent to create monthly cash flow.The property: Triplex Listed at $140,000 - Total monthly rent income $2,150 - Tenants want to stay and are all willing to sign new leases for 3 years - 8 beds 5 baths and 3,500sqft livable space on a 4,800sqft lot - Heat and electric paid by tenants and water trash paid by owner $180 month - I have managed to talk the selling price down to $105,000 with a kick of $10,000 for closing and commissions so $115,000 all in - Building is in fairly good shape according to pictures and questions but have not done a inspection yet - some general maintenance repairs are needed according to the seller but nothing that seems to bother the tenants. - Taxes are on the higher side at $6,000 yearMy Numbers: $115,000 putting 20% of my money $23,000 and finance the rest with total expense of $1,834Monthly expense numbers: Future Maintenance 13% $273 - Vacancy 5% $105 - Property Insurance 5% $105 - Property Taxes 23% $500 - Property management 10% $215 - Office/Travel/Legal 4% $84 - Mortgage 26% $552 - Monthly Cash Flow - $316 per month or $3,792 per year so Cash on Cash = 17%I think this looks like it is a deal worth doing and I also believe I can bump the total rent up by $50 each tenant which I think make it even better.

Some have done owner financing with an agreement to pay all interest and equity splits when the home sells others have done it where they do a quitclaim adding their name onto title with the seller so once rehab is done the seller can't try and cut you out of the deal. 

Transcribing transactions from bank statements, posting transactions to the correct accounts, and then manually creating an income statement, statement of owner's equity and a balance sheet is a fairly time consuming process and I have not been able to keep up with the book keeping between my regular work responsibilities.What accounting software do people recommend? 

You got the lower down because the property is owner-occupied.

Remember that for most owners, their business is very personal to them.

Took about half a year to learn how to walk, talk and even eat again, but bounced back to my love for real estate investing and the two things that transitioned me from just wholesaling to actually buying deals as an investor was creative finance and private money.Bought my first rental property in Easley, S.C. owner finance and one of my best rentals I still own today was bought subject-to! 

Property owners in Oklahoma City - do you water your foundations?

They did have an extra step to make sure that you were the owner of the property, but otherwise it was not bad at all. 

Central A/C is damaged beyond repair and needed to be replaced, which can't be done economically or with coopperation of the HOA and other neiighboring owners.