Max, I am not from Detroit, so I would have to find a property manager to take care of it.I was just thinking of buying a couple as a gamble more than anything else.

I agree with Jason D and Jim Stardust - a small residual or 2 points max is appropriate.

I have 2 properties to deal with here.Property #1 - first house bought with FHA loan, ARM that adjusts every year (1% max), is currently at 5.875%, due to drop to 4.875 in a few months. 30 year mortgage that has 13 years left.

Hello Mike,An investment this large concentratedin one area is about the ECON andthat area.I would be very very familar with thearea, state (CA is BK) and the likeAlso you are betting on the entire ECON with this one.I would be very very careful hereAlso apartments as you know if youown any all are about deferred maintenance AND Liabilty and also its insuranceGo very careful on the above alsoI have friends that luckily sold thierapartments 2-3 years ago for thisvery reason and bought SFRsbecause they just are better to deal with in many many ways.I would also inspect that apartmentto the gills and meet with the repair men to see what they saybut really most repair men gettingpaid $15 an hour or now less do notknow much about the condition of the property YOU DO so I hope you havedone ALOT of repairs GO LOOKand completely INSPECT THEapartments EVERYTHING and I meanEVERYTHING to the T and to the MAXI am a 30 year RE veteran and soldmuch of my RE 2-3 Years ago.SKI

***************************************************A priest gets a flat tire.

Max, I appreciate the recommendation, but the primary reason I am asking such a question in this forum is to avoid the costs associated with seeking proffesional advice and instead seeking recommendations of experienced inviduals who probably sought such advice themselves.When I goto actually set everything up I will seek the advice of a CPA and have a competent attorney draw everything up, but I want to avoid as much of that cost as possible by being well educated prior to seeking such proffesional (and expensive) services.

Max, I PMed you...TOd, thanks for the welcome; I grew up in the States but have been living out of the country for a few years...I actually just had an offer accepted on a house...Im confident about the neighborhood, just had the inspections today and everything seems ok!

What are your thoughts on this deal, what should I watch out for, what questions should I ask, and what is the max I should pay?

So, if my max is $60k that I'm willing to pay, I need to just bring $3k.

Originally posted by Max I:...Any issues with having my handyman manage my properties?