The posts preceding mine are spot on.

Hi BP Fam,
This is my very first post! My wife and 2 kiddos were lucky enough to start building a home in Austin, TX before the big boom this year.  We love the area we are in, the schools, community.  However, we ha...

Mine is breaking even right now but the loan pay down equity and good prospects of Seattle market make it awesome. 

You then treat the tenants like gold and they won't mind paying more when their lease is up and they end up staying long term which is what you want.

As far as taxes, coming from NYS, mine here in FL are a bargain.  

In the education phase and I'm kind of just poking my head into places to ask questions and look at things that pique my interest.Anyway, I've got a friend of mine that lives with his aunt.

I had been worried about overbuilding there, since I bought mine brand new and they kept going up.

I would also avoid gold, as it's not a great investment, barely above inflation in most cases over long periods.

So if you are not cash flowing now, you very likely will in a year or two ESPECIALLY if willing to put some sweat equity, creativity, a bit of money & time.Advice from other areas doesn't apply here so well - we are almost a different country with different concentration of realtors; investors; and CASH buyers (either 1st or 2nd in the country - consistently).As you stated yourself, almost everyone knows they are sitting on gold...

Mine did.