Here’s the situation:Purchase Price: $540,000Down Payment: 20%Mortgage Rate: 7.125% (30-year fixed)Monthly Expenses (Mortgage, HOA, Taxes, Insurance): $3,706Realistic Max Rent: $3,000As you can see, I’m currently short $706/month even with max rent.

Don't change jobs or income yet.Once you do and you think you can manage the payments based on your new income, maybe once you get the rooms rented.Then if you want to switch there are plenty of opportunities. 

Do they require payment on site or do they give you a certain number of days to close the transaction?

Our lease had an early termination clause requiring a one-month payment, but that didn't seem fair to her as she hadn't even moved in.How would you handle a cancellation prior to moving in?

The mortgage payment is $1,000 on each house, so you earn $500 per house or $2,000 monthly.

At which point our evaluation should rise on the community for closer to $4,000,000.00We've enjoyed digitizing all payments, streamlining service, as well as infilling new homes.

At which point our evaluation should rise on the community for closer to $4,000,000.00We've enjoyed digitizing all payments, streamlining service, as well as infilling new homes.

@Robert StephensonIf you have enough equity in your primary or rental you can get a HELOC or HELOAN and use the proceeds as a down payment to buy another rental.

There are loan programs that will do a 20% down payment with a 680 or above credit score. 

I'm looking to invest between $50k and $75k as the down payment.