It's a balance of cashflow and wealth accumulation.One of the goals is to have tenants pay as much of your cost-of-ownership as possible (loans, taxes, insurance, etc.)In high-cost areas, any Class A or B property you buy will usually negative cashflow for the first 3-5 years, until rents rise enough to cover the negative cashflow + rising taxes & insurance.Investing OOS increases your risks because you may not know the market and you can't check on everything/everyone all the time.If you move forward with your buddies, HIGHLY recommend creating a solid Partnership Agreement!

We have a partnership entity, so it has to file separately and needs balance sheet accounting.

The idea is to find a pocket or neighborhood that offers the right combination of estimated ROI and rental demand, giving a balance of cash flow and tenant demand.In my view, this approach provides a more reliable signal of demand than relying solely on pricing adjustments or short-term market trends.

The key is balancing protecting your business with connecting as a human being.

IME (in my experience), you would charge a fee (say 50-100 basis points) to the banks/investors, often times based on the either the commitments or the outstanding balance of the fund. 

At that time, I was balancing a new family and trying to make ends meet.

We will pay off a few more loans with smaller balances, even though they are lower interest than what we are getting on new acquisitions.

If the taxes are killing your cash flow, you'll need to either negotiate a lower purchase price to offset the tax burden or budget for some property improvements that could increase rental income and help balance things out.

Good balance of affordability and rental potential.

Cash flow, equity growth, or a balance of both?