In today's world you need to be about 28-35% down on properties to be gross cash flow positive, closer to 40-42% to be truly net cash flow positive(i.e 50% of your income goes to maintaining the property, other 50% is actually profit).My recommendation is to buy ideally a 4/3 SFR that's a starter-friendly one in a good area, and rent it out by the room.

Joshua,I am here in Florida as well and have been in the REI world for over 18+ years. 

Lost rent from vacancy could easily be several thousand...so, by time you add it all up, it's easily possible for a sewer line replacement to end up costing $40k+ if it involves those types of ancillary expenses.To me, spending a few hundred bucks on a scope to prevent a $40k+ capex on a property worth over half a million is one of the easiest choices I make in the world of REI!

Given the technological world we live in today, it surprising to me that it still works.  

Am I just looking for best of both worlds here with being protected but also claiming my tax benefit?

In a dream world - the comprehensive solution does all this: *task management and sequencing where you can drop a property into a sequence ie day 1 call, day 2 mailer (have it automatically mail out something like a postcard) day 3 etc etc etc*project management outside of the outreach sequences for what's next in the process ie schedule inspection, send the contract, etc etc*ability to have multiple users drive around and if you see a property you can tag an address and add it into a marketing sequence, and also track the streets you've hit so you're not wasting time driving by the same houses more than once *dialer (ability to parallel dial numerous numbers simultaneously to make cold calling more efficient - Ive used tools like orum and kixie in other industries, and when you receive a pickup, the other calls are dropped) *skip tracing/data provider *website landing page for converting online visitors to leads*electronic signature/docusign*secondary branded landing site on different URL for blasts for deal disposition to your buyer listWhat am I missing? 

I’m diving into the world of tract home development and looking to learn more about the financial analysis process for unimproved land.

It's an easy read and very real-world.

Hi Briant, welcome to the real estate world!

Now we chase dreams in a world redefined, Where rules once golden are left far behind.