While they may face intense competition, if you’re able to hold onto your investment for at least five years, you’ll likely be in a strong position.

We pride ourselves in keeping the forums positive, helpful, and focused on real estate (please, no politics, religion, etc.).

I’m also using a 6% vacancy rate, which brings the net monthly cash flow to about $200 and a CoC return of 13.06%.Summary:I’ve created around $50k in equity (difference between ARV of $200k and total investment of $155k).I’ve got about $10k or $18,385 left in the deal (factoring in closing costs).The cash flow is healthy, and the CoC return is strong, especially as a first-time investor.Questions:Does anything look off or could I improve the numbers?

I think you're going to have a hard time finding MF properties that give you positive CF using a PM in most of Phoenix. 

@Aristotle KumpisPossible yes likely no unless you have a ton of equity in other deals that can be cross collateralized

The last few STR deals I closed where my client used a second home loan, they ended up putting down 20-25%, preferring to have more equity in the property versus giving away thousands in fees to the lender. 

So, the extra unit may cost you more then it brings if you cannot access equity or if the market discounts the property when you go to sell due to financing available.

I personally think you can successfully market both your property management (PM) and buy/sell real estate services under one brand if you position them correctly.

You could tap the $400k of equity in your primary, but that's a slippery slope with the little financial discipline you appear to have and could quickly lead to bankruptcy.

While creative financing options are interesting, having more cash on hand seems like it would put me in a much stronger position and open up better opportunities.That said, I’m still curious—at what point do you think someone is truly ‘ready’ to start investing in real estate?