Do the right renovations for instant sweat equity.

Transparency, I thought I would never be able to afford Alexandria either.We showed up to Old Town Alexandria and started renting. 4 months later we found an affordable house in Woodbridge we could get into for a year with low down, then rent it, in the mean time we recoup the capital from our other 2 properties to go buy again after that 12 months.

Explore house hacking by purchasing a small multifamily property (e.g., duplex) using a low down payment loan, living in one unit, and renting the others.

Your plan of starting with a duplex, living in one unit, and renting out the other is a solid strategy known as house hacking.

Otherwise, as @Nathan Gesner points out, it can be MORE expensive than hiring the right professional.ALSO:Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

Do not renew and then rent it back to her and the housing authority will then pay you more Makes logical sense right haha   

If you want to invest in real estate, buy the best investment possible rather than the one that saves you from paying rent on your daughter's college housing. 

Yes, many times but then we cover rent until renovated and tenanted.Have we had an investor loose money on a deal?

Hi Romie, I have a lender that waives their seasoning period if you have done a renovation of at least $10k to the property since taking ownership.

If it's a good cap rate and fully renovated, why didn't it sell?