I have a sizable amount of money saved up and ready to put down 20%+ on my first 2 or 3 buildings but am not sure if that is the best way to tie up my money at the beginning.   

Plus your leverage gets stronger if you know the underlying reason why they're selling. 

@Ashraf FarragWhy I like a ROFR and a lease includes the concept of the strike price is in the future.Say you have a nice house in Cary NC, really good area.Seller wants to take advantage of APPRECIATION.So your ROFR will be tied to a new appraisal at the time of financing.Attorney David Willis JD LLM says,"ROFR vs.

All data pertinent to sound underwriting procedures (date employment will begin, earnings, and so on) must be included, ora statement from the servicemember that he/she intends to reenlist or extend his/her period of active duty to a date beyond the 12 month period, plusa statement from the servicemember’s commanding officer confirming that: 1) the servicemember is eligible to reenlist or extend his/her active duty as indicated, and2) the commanding officer has no reason to believe that such reenlistment or extension of active duty will not be granted, or documentation of other unusually strong positive underwriting factors, such as: 1) a downpayment of at least 10 percent, 2) significant cash reserves, and3) clear evidence of strong ties to the community coupled with a nonmilitary spouse’s income so high that only minimal income from the active duty servicemember is needed to qualify.

I am not tied to any groups but this group will make sure you are being active in real estate.

Couldn't you tie the loan origination fee to the closing?

So far we have used it mostly for Tenant Management, and still use a tenant screening component that the our local landlords association offers, and do accounting in Sage/Peachtree which is what we use for our 'day job' business for over 20 years.Things we like are: price for the number of units, quick view of rents due/paid, great 'to do' section tied to each property/renter (for each unit of a multi), etc....

I don't want to start collecting properties and get stuck with them and have all of my assets tied up in that. 

I don't want them sitting there for long with money tied up in them when I could be renting it out.

I don't want every penny of liquid money I have to be tied up in the project.