You definately do not need to own a home first before getting into real estate investing.I'd say overall, unless you have a job that produces tons of money and you have a hefty stock piling of cash, focus on areas that you can use to generate chunks of cash...either wholesaling or flipping. it will help you learn the market better, spot good deals, and who knows....maybe one of the great deals will strike your fancy enough to move into...all while you make chunks of cash in real estate.When the time is right....then you can get into some multiunits. 

When the deal strikes, I will let the BP community know and hopefully inspire someone else to keep on keepin' on and not to give up.

You have three strikes against you from a HML's perspective:1) Its your residence.

Gross Income: 1,600Taxes/Ins: -266HOA: -330Vacancy/Maint. (15%)-270NOI = 734CAP if you pay 140k = 6.3%CAP if you pay 120k = 7.3%CAP if you pay 100k = 8.8%This does not strike me as a deal.

He had just retired from United after a long career working his way up from engineer to co pilot to capitan on ( at the time state of the art 747 400 )  and we were talking about the strikes that would happen in the airlines.. so the pilots who are totally pro union ( most of them anyway)  ALPA is super strong .. 

If I were you I would strike for something big.

If it's something I need to have in hand on the day I strike a deal, is it a promulgated form or is it a custom form I need to have created by my attorney? 

How do I strike the right balance? 

I'd like to strike up a relationship with a lender such that I'd be "pre-approved" up to an agreed upon limit (perhaps, something like $200,000 to get started).  

String after string of single and double deals with score lots of runs and success over time.In terms of cap rate and COC return on a a particular deal (considering the market you invest in and your goals) what ranges would you classify as an single, double, home fun or strike out (hopefully avoiding these completely).I know some investors are happy with a 6% cap rate while others won't touch a deal unless they think they can do 10% or higher so if you want to qualify why you set your range how you do that would be great too.